Welsh nationalism and Henry Tudor

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WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.
By W. GARMON JONES, M.A., Dean of the
Faculty of Arts, University of Wales.

From the " Transactions " of the Honourable Society
of Cymmrodorion, Session

LONDON :

THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF CYMMRODORION,
NEW STONE BUILDINGS, 64, CHANCERY LANE.

TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

of

SESSION 1917-18.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY
TUDOR.1

BY W. GARMON JONES, M.A.,

Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Livei'pool.

I.

THE forces which enabled the subtle grandson of Owen
Tudor to wrest the sceptre from the last of the fierce
Plantagenets and to win a kingdom for his house have
not received a complete or even an adequate treatment
from historians. This may be due to the dreary and
melancholy course of events which culminated at Bosworth
Field. For the Wars of the Koses are generally repre-
sented as a dynastic feud which embroiled the whole
nation, or as a protracted faction-fight, animated by no
ideals or principles, and productive only of a desolating
anarchy. Yet if we turn our eyes beyond the Severn we
may discern the profound significance of the struggle for
Wales. There the issues are involved with national senti-
ments and aspirations, and Welsh intervention, in a

1 Read (in part) before the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion,
at 64, Chancery Lane, London. Chairman — W. Llewelyn Williams,
Esq., K.C.? M,PV the Recorder of Cardiff,

B

A WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

manner often puzzling to the English historian, frequently
turns the scales. Because Henry Tudor was a Welshman,
relying on Welsh support, and because his cause in Wales
elevated the struggle to a national issue, the main interest
of the Wars of the Eoses, it seems to me, must be sought
in Wales.

I propose, in this sketch, merely to indicate some of
the forces that welded tribal Wales into a nation, and
that created so passionate a devotion to the Tudor throne.
But a preliminary enquiry, though it must be summary, is
relevant and essential. A careful and competent English
historian of the House of Lancaster has drawn a lurid
picture of Wales in the fifteenth century ; a " poor and
barbarous land " with a " ragged and half -naked peasan-
try" living in squalor on the outskirts of the English
walled towns, disarmed and cowed under the shadow of
the mighty castles of their conquerors.1 If such was
the condition of the Welsh people, the part they played
in the Wars of the Eoses is, indeed, inexplicable. But
the unanimous voice of contemporary literature tells
another story. The vigorous and splendid social life
mirrored in countless poems — the chieftains whose tables
were loaded with the choicest of foreign fruits, currants,
cinnamon and oranges from the south, and the wines
of Eochelle, Bordeaux and Gascony, whose walls were
hung with the rich tapestry of Arras, and whose dwellings
resounded with the music of harps ; the splendour of
the monasteries, the a gold adorned choir ", the crystal
windows, the lofty roofs resplendent with the bearings
of princes, the light of torches and the burning of incense,
the rich tombs with sculptured figures and arms of the
dead, — this is not the reflection of a rude and barbaric

1 Wylie, History of England under Henry the Fourth (London, 1884),
vol. i, chap. viii.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. O

society. But — to take an obvious test of economic pros-
perity— there are innumerable proofs that the Welsh
could equip, maintain and move armies. The poems
clearly demonstrate that they were not, in spite of the
ordinances of Henry IV, a disarmed people. The warrior
chief, greater than Arthur in his cuirass, whose white
hand lays low a host,1 has often his stores of arms with
which he equips his followers. A contemporary englyn
preserves a vignette of the war band and its lord :

Mae llu yn Rhosyr, mae llyn,— mae eurgylch,

Mae f'arglwydd Llewelyn,
A gwyr tal yn ei ganlyn,
Mil a myrdd mewn gwyrdd a gwyn.

[There is a host in Rhosfair, there is drinking, there are golden
bells. There is my lord Llewelyn and tall warriors follow him ; a
thousand, a host in green and white.]

In this civilization literary culture was pre-eminent;
the existence of a large class of bards who supported
themselves by their craft is, in itself, an indication of the
state of society. The literature, too, is no product of
barbarism and misery ; in no period of Welsh history was
there so prolific, so scholarly or so finished an output. It
contrasted strangely with the condition of contemporary
literature in England, where a deep silence had fallen on
the land, the profound and expectant hush before the
dawn and the music of the Elizabethan c singing-birds '.
But the Welsh poetry of this century is finished art — a
little too self-conscious perhaps — but art of a high order,
polished and dignified in elegy, sparkling and tender in
the love poem, skilful and epigrammatic in eulogy and,
what is more precious, adorned throughout with an
abundant imagery and a rich fancy.

1 Mwy nag Arthur mewn curas,
Milwr o gryfdwr a gras . . .
Llaw wen a bair llenwi bedd,
Llaw a yr llu i orwedd.

B2

4 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

Wales, it is true, was rent with anarchy and internecine
strife, due to the absence of any centralized administra-
tion and aggravated by the c over-mighty ' Marcher-lords
incessant in border warfare, but it was a people in arms,
inured to fighting and skilled in the arts of war. The
energy, military skill and (it must be added) the treachery
displayed in tribal feud was soon to be diverted to a
larger issue by a cause which appealed to the historic
memories and the ancient aspirations of the race.

II.

The outbreak of the Wars of the Roses divided the
Welsh for York and Lancaster. It is impossible, on the
available data, to comprehend all the influences which
determined Welsh support, yet some are manifest through-
out the struggle, and of these it is clear that the opera-
tion of ties of kindred was not the least important.

Hitherto little attention has been paid to clan relation-
ship in Wales ; yet there are indications that considera-
tions of kinship influenced partisanship in no small
degree. The ancient Welsh tribal system was based on
kindred ; the members of a tribe, being descended from a
common ancestor, were all akin to one another. This
system had been modified by many forces, Norman law,
feudalism, and the English conquest. But among a
people naturally conservative and tenacious of tradition
systems hallowed by custom die hard, and there can be no
doubt that there were survivals of purely Welsh tribal
forms as late as the mid-fifteenth century. The extent
of these survivals of a byegone economy is worthy of
close investigation, for were this point definitely decided
it would explain much of the Welsh attitude to York and
Lancaster. A clan relationship might be established
tentatively on a common ancestor at a very remote period ;

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 5

it is conceivable, for example, that the descendants of
Cunedda might have formed defensive and offensive
alliances for many centuries after his death. Precisely
how far this principle operated in later times is not
known. There might, too, be ties other than those of
common descent, such as alliances by marriage between
powerful members of two tribes. Of course it is obvious
that such clan alliances did not prevent internecine strife
—the History of the Gwydir Family contains abundant
proof of this — but there does not seem to be any evidence
that this ever expanded into tribal conflict.

The influence of kinship in determining the groupings
of the Welsh for the Eed Eose and White is clear. I
select two instances out of many. Sir William Herbert,
afterwards Earl of Pembroke, was a staunch Yorkist, and
under his influence all Siluria became Yorkist. This was
undoubtedly due to the vast ramifications of his family in
that country where every chieftain of importance was a
descendant of Sir David Gam, the grandfather of Sir
William Herbert. The lord of Herast, Thomas ap
Ehosser, a second son of Sir Eoger Vaughan, the son-in-
law of David Gam, was beheaded as a Yorkist partisan at
Banbury. He had -two brothers, both of whom were
powerful chiefs in Siluria and both were Yorkists. Sir
Thomas Vaughan of Tre tower, the son of one of these
brothers, served Edward IY in eighteen engagements ;
his brother, Wat kin Vaughan of Talgarth, was a captain
under the Duke of York and was rewarded for his services
by the office of constable of Carmarthen. William
Vaughan, another great-grandson of Sir David Gam, was
appointed constable of Aberystwyth Castle and mayor of
the town in the reign of Edward IV. All the members of
the various branches of Sir David Gam's family seemed to
have followed Sir William Herbert, who represented the

6 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TTJDOE.

eldest line, and adhered to the White Rose.1 Considera-
tions of kindred were as powerful among the Lancastrian
adherents of North Wales. The wild country of Nant-
conway was held for the Lancastrians until 1468 by Jevan
ap Eobert ap Meredydd and Dafydd ap Siencyn.2 Jevan
ap Robert was undoubtedly a kinsman of the Tudors and
followed their lead. Dafydd ap Siencyii's attitude seems
also explicable on the same grounds. The famous outlaw
of Carreg y Walch, was perhaps the most romantic figure

of his age :

Thy castle the depth of the forest,
Thy towers are the oaks of the vale,
Stag of the stags of Nant Conway,

The jewel of all the handsome,
The Butterfly of all the gallants.

The splendid eulogy which celebrates his deeds significantly
emphasizes his kinship with the Tudors :—

Peacock from the battle of Pembroke,

Tall kinsman to Harry thou,

The word has been given thee for ever,

Earl Richmond has given it forth,

Sprung from the best of ancestors —

From Rhys Gethin, an Elphin art thou . . .

Thou art kind to the Stags; thou art kinsman

To the Earl. A' conqueror art thou.3

The sword of the Earls4 thou art also :

A monarch art thou in our land.

In quiet thou boldest all Gwynedd ....

Kinsmen eight score are about thee.6

1 See poems addressed to various members of this family in The
Works of Lewis Glyn Cothi (Oxford, 1837) Dos. I.

2 History of the Gwydir Family (ed. 1878), pp. 54, 75 ; Rymer,
Foedera, xi, pp. 444-446 ; Williams, Ancient and Modern Denbigh,
p. 85 ; Pennant, Tours in Wales (ed. Rhys), vol. ii, p. 157.

3 " Car yr iarll, concwerwr wyd ".

4 Henry, Earl of Richmond, and Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke.

6 For a text of the poem, see Y Brython, vol. iii, p. 99. A transla-
tion by J. Glyn Davies, from which the above extracts are taken,
appeared in The Nationalist, vol. i, no. 4.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 7

Dafydd was of the tribe of Marchudd and of the same
generation as Meredydd ap Tudor, the father of Owen
Tudor, and related to him in the eighth degree.1

Further, the fact that so many of the chieftains followed
the heads of their tribes would seem to suggest that their
hypothetical headship was still recognized, and this implies
a considerable operation of the ancient Welsh tribal
forms. Could the relationship of the Tudors, for example,
to the other clans of North Wales be accurately deter-
mined, the precise extent of these survivals would be
apparent. If the chieftainship of the tribe lay with the
Penmynydd family, then the groupings of the North
Walian clans points to the survival of the military over-
lordship of the ' pen-cenedl ' and of his right to call on
his kindred in time of war. But, on the available data,
it is only possible to establish the influence of kinship in
determining the partisanship of the Welsh ; the other

1 Thus :—

lorwerth ap Edryd
5th in descent from Marchudd.

Ewgan

lorwerth

I
Cynric

Edynfed Vychan .

Grono

Tudor

Grono. .

Sir Tudor

I
Meredydd ap Tudor

Owen Tudor.

Iddon
Cynric
Grono
Madoc
Dafydd
"Y Orach"
Dafydd
Siencyn
. . Dafydd ap Siencyn

8 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

questions cannot be settled except by a closer investigation
of the pedigrees.

The second and the most decisive factor in determining
the Welsh attitude, throughout the Wars of the Eoses
but with a special force after the appearance of Henry
Tudor, was the appeal to national sentiment. Such Welsh
nationalism as existed in the fifteenth century has its
roots deep in the past and far beyond the bounds of the
century itself. For its true origin is to be found in the
Historia Regum of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Fortunately
it is here besides the point to enter into any of the vexed
questions concerning that famous book which have been
argued by scholars with all the apparatus of learning and
criticism. Let us describe it as a romance, but a romance
with an object to achieve — the glorification of the British
race. But it has a twofold significance ; it is a vital
factor in estimating the forces at work in Wales during
the fifteenth century, and, moreover, it profoundly
affected every writer of history down to the eighteenth
century. Geoffrey's version of British history, and with
it his conception of nationality, was eagerly accepted
throughout the middle ages. True there were two voices
who protested ; William of Newburgh denounced the
fables and falsehoods of Geoffrey1 — a denunciation possi-
bly inspired by his dislike of the Welsh2 — whilst the
egregious vanity of Giraldus Cambrensis found vent in
sneers.3 But these availed nothing in the chorus of uni-

1 William of Newburgh, Proemium, pp. 11-13 (Chronicles of the reigns
of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I, vol. i, Rolls Series).

2 See preface to " The British History, translated into English from
the Latin of Jeffrey of Monmouth ", by Aaron Thompson [London,
1718].

3 Itin. Kambriae, i, 5 (Works of Giraldus Cambrensis, vol. vi, p. 58,
Rolls Series). " Contigit aliquando, spiritibus immundis nimis eidem
insultantibus, ut Evangelium Johannis ejus in gremio pomeretur:

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

versal approbation; the authority of the History was un-
questioned and unshakened1 until the criticisms of
Polydore Vergil in the sixteenth century.2 Hence, regard-
less of its truth or falsehood, it is of supreme importance
as a living force moulding and directing the conceptions
and the aspirations of the mediseval Welshman.

It is not, perhaps, too much to assert that the first
definition of nationality of any force or clearness appears
in the Historia Regum. There are vague foreshadowings
in Gildas, but no real evidence of conscious nationalism ;
there is a more precise and clearer perception in the com-
posite ' Nennius ', who recognizes the British as descended
from Brutus and therefore as an honourable race whose
unity is implied in the national symbol of the Eed Dragon,
but it is difficult to see more in this than the recognition
of some sort of political unity based on pride of race.
But how wide is the gulf that divides Geoffrey from his
sources ! The Historia Regum displays a complete and
imposing fabric of nationalism ; there is the common
descent from Brutus, taken, doubtless, from Nennius, but
emphasized with a wealth of accretions ; there is the
national hero and greatest of kings, Arthur ; there is
the national prophet Merlin, the shadowy Ambrose of
Nennius transformed into the mighty magican ; there is
the national code, the Molmutine laws, quae usque ad hoc

qui statim tanquam aves evolantes, omnes penitus evanuerunt. Quo
sublato postmodum, et Historia Britonum a Galfrido Arthuro trao
tata, experiendi causa, loco ejusdem subrogata, non solum corpori
ipsius toti, sed etiam libro superposito, longe solito crebrius et
taediosius insederurit " ; also Descriptio Kambriae, i, 7, (ibid., vol. vi,
p. 179). " Wallia vero non a Walone duce, vel Wendoloena regina,
sicut fabulosa Galfridi Arthuri mentitur historia".

1 It was quoted by Edward I in a controversy with Pope Boniface
VIII (Thompson, loc. cit.}.

2 See also article by Prof. W. Lewis Jones in the Quarterly Review,
1906.

10 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

tempus inter Anglos celebranturj given by the national law-
giver, and there is the national emblem of the Red Dragon.
It is in no way appropriate here to examine Geoffrey's
motives ; it may well be that he was inspired to create an
epic of the Angevin empire or that he intended so convey
to the world that this great race, endowed with all the
attributes of a nation, needed but a metropolitan see to
fulfil its destiny, and that the humble author of the
History was manifestly fitted to be the occupant of that
see, whether at Caerleon or at Menevia.2 Geoffrey's
ambitions were foiled, the hopes of a metropolitan were
soon to vanish, but the Historia Regum remained. It
remained to become a fount of Romance and to bequeath
a delineation of nationalism that was treasured and
guarded by Geoffrey's countrymen for three centuries.
For it was this conception, fashioned with a wealth of
colour and presented with great power, that captured the
imagination of the fifteenth century.

1 Historia Regum (ed. San Marte), I, xvii.

2 My colleague, Mr. J. Glyn Davies, has advanced an ingenious
surmise on Geoffrey's treatment of this question. He assumes, with
Sebastian Evans, that there were two editions of the History— the
first without the Merlin prophecies, the second with them. In the
first Geoffrey indicated Caerleon as the historic metropolitan see ;
in the second "Menevia shall be robed in the pall of Caerleon"
(Bk. viii, c. 3). This change would seem to be accounted for by an
event which put Caerleon out of the running, possibly the canoniza-
tion of St. David by Pope Calixtus II or the death of Bernard, which
left Geoffrey a candidate for St. David's, coming after the appearance
of the first edition. Or it is possible that Bernard, the first Norman
bishop of St. David's, was attempting to obtain the metropolitan
there. Further, in the Chartularies of Llandaff, a great historic
claim is made for Llandaff aS the chief of the Welsh sees — the
bishopric of no less a saint than Dyfrig. Bishop Urban, who fought
for the supremacy of Canterbury, thus argued before Calixtus II
that the greatest see in Wales had always been under Canterbury.
In this three-cornered contest, Geoffrey abandoned Caerleon and
declared for Menevia, in the Merlin prophecy.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 11

III.

The bulk of the data for estimating the nature and
strength of the national sentiment in Wales in the fifteenth
century is furnished by the vaticinatory or prophetic
literature of the period. Prophecy, in the ancient and
mediaeval world, was always a powerful instrument in
politics,1 and nowhere did it flourish more than in Wales.
The origin of Welsh vaticinations is certainly obscure,
but it should be possible to link them up with the great
body of mediaeval prophecies, religious, dynastic and
national, which seem to have had their origin in the
Sibylline books circulated in the first two centuries of the
Christian era by the hellenized Jews of Alexandra.
Certainly from the eleventh century, if not earlier, pro-
phetic utterances exercised a great influence in Wales.
But, for our purpose, it is not necessary to go beyond
Geoffrey, for the Merlin prophecies of the seventh book
of the Historia Regum are the bases for the later vaticina-
tions. Of their importance in fashioning Welsh nation-
alism there can be no doubt. Merlin had prophesied the
ultimate triumph of the Eed Dragon — and his prophecies
were at once the expression of the longings of the race
and the stimulus to action. To them the English
chroniclers attribute the restlessness of the Welsh, their
fiery warlike spirit and their frequent insurrections :

" Extollunt Troiae sanguinem,
De quo ducunt originem ....
Hoc consuevit fallere
Et ad bella impingere
Merlini vaticinium
Et frequens sortilegium ".

1 On mediaeval prophecy see Dollinger, Der Weissagungsglaube und
das Prophetenthum in der christlichen Zeit. (Historisches Taschenbuch,
1871) and the same author's Prophecies and the Prophetic Spirit in the
Christian Era (London, 1873). In addition to examples quoted in

12 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

"They extol the blood of Troy of whom they took beginning . . .
the prophecy of Merlin and often his witchcraft was wont
to beguile them and to move them into battle".1

So potent was their influence that the English took many
measures to counteract their effect, in 1170 even going so
far as to disinter two bodies in the Yale of Avalon, which,
it was professed, were the remains of Arthur and his
queen, to shatter the Welsh hopes of the return
of their king2 — " which finding and translating is an
objection to the fantasticall sayinge of the Welshe men
that afferme his commynge again to reygne, as he before
dyd ".3 But the renown of Merlin spread over Europe,4
and, it is interesting to note, his prophecies were counten-
anced by the church,5 which may perhaps explain why the
English government never attempted to invoke the eccle-
siastical censures against the Welsh prophet.

Of the origin and nature of the twelfth century vatici-

Dollinger, see also the interesting political prophecy of Peter of
Pontefract. [W. Coventry, vol. ii, pp. 208, 211. R. Wendover, iv,
pp. 240, 255-6. Ann. Tewkesbury, a. 1212 (Rolls Ser.)].

1 Higden, Polychronicon, vol. i, pp. 408, 410 [Rolls series].

2 Polychronicon, viii, pp. 60-62.

3 Fabyan, Chronicle (ed. Ellis, London, 1811), p. 278.

4 In Brittany, in the middle of the 12th century, popular belief in
the oracle was such that any doubter who maintained that Arthur had
died in the ordinary way would have been stoned by the peeple (see
Alanus de Insulis, Prophetia Angelicana, quoted in Dollinger, loc.
cit.).

6 Salimbene, Chronica (Mon. Germ. Hist. Scriptores, tome xxxii,
p. 247). " Igitur scriptura Balaam ct Helm et Cayphe et Sibille et
Merlini, Joachym atque Methodii ab ecclesia non spernitur, sed
gratanter suscipitur, in quantum bona et utilia et vera dixerunt,
quia, sicut dicit beatus Ambrosius : verum a quocumque dicatur, a
spiritu sancto est Ad idem facit quod dicit poeta :

Non rosa dat spinets, quamvis sit Mia spine,
Nee viole pungunt, nee paradisus obest."

The whole chronicle is instructive as revealing the attitude of the
mediaeval church towards prophecies, pagan and Christian.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 13

nations contained in the Black Book of Carmarthen1 it
would not be relevant here, even if it were possible, to
offer any surmises. But they have one noteworthy feature
— they are written in verse. Prophecy was an ancient
attribute of the poeta ; and in Wales henceforward this
function was to acquire a deeper significance : the true
bard, in the line of Taliesin and Merlin, was to tune his
muse to a loftier theme — to prophecy to the remnant of
the British people the ultimate victory over the Saxon
under a great leader, an Arthur or Cadwaladr. It would
seem that this tradition was carried through the thirteenth
century, for the most prolific writers of vaticinations were
the bards Adda Vras and Y Bardd Cwsg, but as none of
their poems are available it is impossible to gather their
contents. In the fourteenth century, apparently, the
vaticinations begin to be written for the purpose of a
direct and immediate political propaganda : they centre
round an Owen, who is to come from over the seas to
redeem his countrymen from the Saxon yoke ; the ancient
prophecies concerning Owen ap Edwin or Owen of Manaw3
are to be fulfilled in his person. It is possible, as has been
suggested, that the expected leader was Owain Lawgoch.4
During this century the prophecies are cast into the mould,
which, later, became their traditional form. They are
written in the ' cywydd ' metre — now made the popular
vehicle of poetic expression by Dafydd ap Gwilym. Before

1 See Hist. MSS. Com. Kept. ( Welsh MSS.), vol. i, pt. 2, Peniarth
MS. 1. Also a printed text in Skene, Four Ancient Books of Wales,
ii, pp. 1-62.

- Plato, Timaeus, 71-2; Ion, 534; Phcedrus, 244. The Greek oracles
were in verse. Cf. also the mediaeval conception of Vergil as a
prophet arid soothsayer (see Comparetti, Vergil in the Middle Ages).

3 Stephens, The Literature of the Kymry (Llandovery, 1849), p. 216.

4 See the interesting section by J. H. Davies in the article " Owain
Lawgoch", in Transactions of the Cymmrodorion (1899-1900), pp.
31-105,

14 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

the century closed the vaticinatory ' cywydd ' had received
another designation : it becomes the ' cywydd brud ' or
c brut '. The word itself, a ' transferred use of Brutus ',
meant originally a chronicle or history of the descendants
of Brutus,1 and later simply a chronicle. Whether the
original transferred sense arose in Welsh or Old French
seems doubtful, but it is worth while observing that, as
Dr. Gwenogfryn Evans has pointed out, "the first use in
Welsh is associated with historical works like Brut y
Tywyssogyon and the Brutus Saxonum of Hengwrt MS. 8 ".2
-But by the close of the fourteenth century the word, in
Welsh, had recovered its association with Brutus, the
legendary founder of the British race, and thus is attached
to the vaticinatory poetry which foretells the triumph
of his descendants.3

Henceforward the vaticinations fall into three sections,
each grouped round a political upheaval, and we can dis-
tinguish them as the Glyndwr, the Tudor and the Civil
War Bruts. Few of the Glyndwr bruts have as yet been
published, the most considerable body are to be found in
the works of lolo Goch.' It is clear, however, that the
form is now stereotyped, for the Tudor and Civil War
bruts are in this traditional manner.

The Tudor bruts — which are our main concern here—
are, with rare exceptions, written in the c cywydd' — a
form which seems to be almost entirely absent in Welsh

1 See The New English Dictionary under " Brute ".

2 The Red Book of Hergest, Preface, p. vi.

3 In the 15th century the "cywydd brud " was well understood to
mean a cywydd which prophesied concerning the descendants of
Brutus, e.g. :

Darllain brudiau r deheudir

Dwedydd ir Gwyndydd air gwir. — [Howel ap Dan.]
Also:—

y brad llwyd kymysc brud a llaid

Brut hen llyfr y Brytaniaid.— [See Davies, loc. cit.]

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 15

literature before the fourteenth century.1 In that century
and the following its use is predominant and is associated
with certain types of subject matter. Thus begging
epistles, love poems, many eulogies and elegies (though
this class of subject is frequently treated in the ' awdl '
form), and vaticinations form the themes of the
' cywydd '. The bruts of the Wars of the Eoses are
almost all in this metre, the two notable exceptions being
the Odes to Patrick and to St. David. This may well be
significant : the ' cywydd ', in addition to its unique
adaptability for the well-turned phrase or the sparkling
epigram of which the fifteenth century poet was a
supreme master, had its advantages for oral transmission.
It is, as compared with the more elaborate forms, easy to
commit to memory, which might well commend it as a
vehicle for political propaganda.2 Moreover the use of
the ( cywydd ' for vaticinations suggests that the brut
was now the concern of the " teuluwr " or household bard,
for the form is essentially associated with household
songcraft3 — a fact that would seem to indicate that the
appeal of the ' cywyddau brud ' was to the chieftains.

The obstacles to a clear comprehension of the Tudor
bruts (apart from the te-xtual difficulties of imperfect
transmission) are, in the main, due to their phraseology
and allegorical form. Prophetic utterances, in all ages,
have not been distinguished for clarity of expression;
they are wont, like the Cumean oracle " obscuris vera
involvens'", to veil their truth in the dark saying. But
there is a passage in the Historia Regum which would
seem to yield a clue to the obscurity of the fifteenth

1 J. Glyn Davies, Welsh Metrics (London, 1911), vol. i, p. 69.

2 The frequent varying sequence of the couplets — the commonest
form of divergence in the texts of different manuscripts — is strong
evidence of oral transmission.

3 Welsh Metrics, p. 70.

16 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

century vaticinators. Geoffrey relates that when Merlin
had delivered his prophecies his hearers were stricken to
wonderment by his obscure and equivocal sayings :

Cum igitur haec et alia multa prophetasset Merlinus,
ambiguitate verborum suorum astantes in admirationem
commovit.1

Versed as they were in the Merlin lore, the bards aspired
to be worthy successors to the mystical prophet and, to
judge by their cryptic utterances, they did not fail. But,
it must be observed, their obscurity is deliberate, it is
unsafe at any time to attribute it to bad writing or clumsy
phraseology, for the bards of this century were too accom-
plished grammarians to write slipshod Welsh. Indeed
such ambiguities as exist in the texts, being deliberate,
are themselves a tribute to their skill in the use of a
language that does not readily lend itself either to pun or
ambiguity. It is obvious that the contents of many of
these poems were treasonable matter, and from motives
of safety the bard concealed his meaning save to the
initiated.2

The use of allegory is a feature common to all these
poems. Prominent personages are introduced under
allegorical names, generally, of animals. Lions, leopards,
boars, serpents, dragons, bulls, lambs, eagles and ravens
abound; in one 'awdl vryd ' alone Lewis Grlyn Cothi has
collected between twenty and thirty animals forming, as
his editor remarks,3 a veritable menagerie. The unravell-
ing of the menagerie is the most difficult of the problems
connected with this species of poetry : the animals have
to be identified, or their significance explained. As this
use of allegory is conventional, many are taken direct

1 Historia Regum, viii, 1.

2 For the same reason he often feigned madness (Gwydir Family,
p. 41, n. 2).

3 Lewis Glyn Cothi, Dos, viii? 3,

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 17

from the older bruts, and especially from the Merlin
prophecies of the Historia. Thus the 'draig' and the
6 dragwn ', found in almost all the poems is either the
white dragon, f which signified the Saxons ', or the red
dragon, 'which signified the British race'.1 The lion,
too, can often be identified with Geoffrey's 'Lion of
Justice ',2 and there occur many others, the serpent, the '
lynx, the wolf, the bear, which are found in the Merlin
prophecy. It should be possible, then, to distinguish all
the animals common to the bruts and those peculiar to
the period. But it is by no means safe to eliminate from
the poems all animals found in the earlier prophecies ; it
has to be determined in every case whether the use is
traditional or whether it has a topical meaning. One
example will illustrate the pitfall awaiting the hasty in-
vestigator : the Boar figures often, both in the Merlin
prophecies and in the Tudor poems, but in the latter it
has a special significance, as it is used to represent King
Eichard III.3

The Bull, which is also an emblem in the Historia, has
a special usage in this century. It is clear from the
vaticinations and the eulogies and elegies that the animal
typifies persons of great power and influence. So Guto'r
Glyn addresses Edward IV :

• Mae r Tarw mawr Mortmeriaid ? "
[" Where is the great Bull of the Mortimers ? "]

and Dafydd Llwyd ap Llewelyn refers to Henry Tudor :

" Darw o Fon yn digoni ",

" Hwn yw gobaith yr iaith ni ".

[" A Bull of Anglesey demanding satisfaction ",
"He is the hope of our race "].*

But, apparently, the ' black bull ' is only used to designate

1 Historia Regum, vii, 3. 2 Historia Reyum, vii, 3.

3 See page 18. 4 See Appendix II.

C

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

Henry or Jasper Tudor. Lewis Grlyn Cothi expressing- the
anxious expectation of his countrymen for the arrival of
the fleet from Brittany, thus addresses Jasper :

Pa vor y mae d'angorau P
Pa bwnt lie 'r wyt hwnt, wr tau ?
Pa bryd, (pa hyd y'n hoedir ?)
, Y tarw du y troi i dir ?

Gwyl Vair, gwylia o voroedd,
Gwynedd wen dan ganu 'dd oedd.1

["In what seas are thy anchors, and where art them thyself ?
When wilt thou, Black Bull, come to land ; how long shall we
wait ? On the Feast of the Virgin fair Gwynedd, in her singing,
watched the seas ".]

The begging poems of the century would seem to indicate
a reason for this special use of the black bull. The south
Wales poets ask for red bulls ; two splendid poems by the
southern bards Llawdden and Bedo Brwynllys, give a
minute description of this animal. On the other hand
the north Wales begging epistles ask for black cattle ;
Tudur Aled, for example, demands a bull " whose colour
is that of the blackberry or the sea coal — like the bulls of
Anglesey ". Thus the ' black bull ', symbolizing the
Tudor, bears its ancient epithetic use of power and
influence and also an added association with the home of
the family.

Heraldry often furnishes a clue, for many of the animals
are taken from the heraldic bearings of the person they
represent. Thus Sir Rhys ap Thomas figures as the raven,
for his* arms were a chevron sable between three ravens
on a white field. a Richard III, as already noted, appears
as the Boar or Hog, for his cognisance was a boar,3 a fact

1 Lewis Glyn Cothi, Dos. viii, 5.

2 Dwnn, 'Heraldic Visitations, vol. i, p. 210, n. 7.

3 Ilolinshed, Chronicle, 746.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TTJDOK. 19

which had also provoked in England the rhyme which
cost William Collingbourne his life :

" The catte, the Ratte and Lovell our Dogge
Rulyth all England under the Hogge''.

"The which was meant that Catesby, Ratclyffe and the Lord
Lovell ruled all the lande under the Kinge which bore the
whyte bore for his cognisance "-1

It is possible — though of this I have as yet seen no
indication — that English political songs and contemporary
doggerel may have had an influence on the phraseology
of the bruts.

In addition to the difficulties of identifying the alle-
gorical figures there are other obscurities. There are
many astronomical references, and, although it is clear
from numerous manuscripts that the astronomy studied
was the Ptolomaic system, it has yet to be determined
whether the stars and the spheres were, in their turn,
subjected to allegorical treatment. Countless references
to legend and folk lore, the lives of the saints, and the
heritage of myth and history which was so carefully
treasured by the scholarly poets are woven into the fabric
of their poetry. To read the riddle of this literature is no
easy task ; but again it must be emphasized that its
obscurity was deliberate. The bards, however, spoke of
current events in terms well understood by the fraternity
and, with the aid of the teuluivr, by the educated chief-
tains of the day, and references now obscure were then
intelligible. It is of course obvious that the large mass
of this material, calendared in the Historical Manuscripts
Commission reports, must be subjected to the severest
critical tests before it can safely be used as historical
sources. A systematic palseographical survey, to date
the manuscript apart from its contents and to deter-
1 Fabyan, 672.

"

20 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

mine its provenance, will supply data for estimating
its value. For example, where strong motives have ex-
isted for literary forgery, as in the case of Henry YII's
genealogy or in the MSS. of the sixteenth century,
when feeling was running high because of Polydore
Vergil's criticisms, or of the seventeenth century, when
there was a skilful school of forgery in Glamorgan, the
material must be strictly scrutinized. All this can be
freely admitted. The plea here is that this great body of
literature should no longer be treated as the idle ravings
of bards, 'full of sound and fury, signifying nothing'.
Of the reality of the influence of the bruts there can be no
doubt. Even an imperfect knowledge such as we have of
the vaticinatory literature and of its permanence and long
duration clearly demonstrates its significance in fashioning
and perfecting the Welsh nationalism that found its
vindication on Bosworth field.

IV.

The historical value of the cywyddau brud is not to be
estimated by the facts they contain — for these pious
wishes do not attest any particular political events nor do
they give the precise personal data furnished by the
eulogies and elegies — but by their worth as cumulative
evidence. They are no empty cabalistic utterances, for
they have preserved, in a remarkable way, a uniform
mould. They remain as largely unsolved riddles, (and
whilst such a mass of documents is unexplained it cannot
be said that this period of Welsh history has been
thoroughly investigated), yet they have — as they stand—
a real value in estimating the force of the sentiments
that were stirring men's minds. The nationalism of an
age is reflected, if anywhere, in the contemporary litera-
ture, and the data for estimating the nature and strength

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENEY TUDOR. 21

of the national sentiment in Wales in €he fifteenth cen-
tury is to be found, as I believe, in these vaticinatory
poems.

What, then, can be gathered from the vaticinations as
to the nationalism of Wales during the Wars of the
Eoses?. In the first place the very fact of their being
written and their obvious descent from the prophecies of
the Historia Regum shows beyond doubt that a national
sentiment of a particular kind was in vigorous being —
and that sentiment based on a common racial descent
from Brutus of Troy. On the other hand there is,
apparently, a lack of definite pronouncements on a con-
ception of Welsh nationality that would embrace both
North and South Wales ; when a Venedotian poet writes
a brut he may speak of Wales but he probably means
Gwynedd. Nor can the common hatred of the Saxon,
which often finds vigorous expression, be taken to postu-
late a nationalistic sentiment. There is not, in fact, any
sufficient reason for assuming homogeneity ; and it is
quite probable that the North and the South each con-
sidered themselves the true representatives of Brutus.
But there can be no doubt that the national cause was
bound up with the Brutus descent. Wales, before the
final rally around Henry Tudor, was divided for York and
Lancaster. The Yorkist partisans found their justification
in the Mortimer descent from Gwladys, the daughter of
Llewelyn ap lorwerth :

Mae r tarw mawr mortmeriaid l
Mynn o ty bleddyn dy blaid

1 This line is metrically defective. Mostyn MSS.l, 146/231,
160/174, Jesus College MS. 17/551, Havod MS. 3/107, Peniarth MS.
152/105, and Llanstepheii MS. 168/172, read "Mae r tarw mawr or
mortmeriaid". Llanstephen MS. 125/172 has " Y tarw mawr or mort-
meriaid ".

22 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

Tro dy nerth at ryw cly nain

0 vrenin costwin Castil

a gwladus du galw dy stil

dyret ty him Ed\vart hir

1 fFrwyno kyrff rai enwir
wrth ddysc a chyfraith esgud
lies vab Koel dyfnwal moel mud

disgin Edward vrenin vry
dwyll agamraint holl gymry.1

"Where is the great Bull of the Mortimers? Demand of
the house of Bleddyn thy party .... Turn thy power to thy
grandmother's race from the wine-giving king of Castile ; Dark
Gwladys thou art called by thy style .... Come thyself, tall
Edward, to bind the bodies of the wicked by learning and swift
law, thou Lies son of Coel and Dyfnwal Moelmud .... Descend
Edward, king, on the deceits and wrongs of Wales ".

The language of this and other poems shows that Edward
IV was accepted as a Cymric King in the true line of
Brutus, and, therefore, worthy of Welsh support. So it
was that the Yorkists could draw army after army from
Wales and could command the allegiance of some of the
most powerful of the Welsh chieftains. Even after the
appearance of Henry Tudor as a candidate for the throne
many of the Welsh still adhered to the house of York.
This would seem to argue a nationalism diverging into
different parties, according to divergent acceptations of
the Brutus succession. As against this it has yet to be
determined how far personal interests decided partisan-
ship : it seems clear, for example, that many of the North
Wales clans were won over for Lancaster by the favour
shown to the Tudors at the Court, and there are more
than one instance of individuals transferring their sup-
port from one side to the other for motives of gain or

1 Kywyld moliant Brenin Edward IV, by Gutto'r Glyn.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 23

safety. The question of national sentiment is complicated
by such external considerations, though the attitude of
many Welsh partisans should be explicable from the
data in the personal poems, but the influence of the bruts
and their conception of nationalism was real and vital
and must be adjusted with the disintegrating factors of
clan alliances and groupings.

The last stage of the Wars of the Roses in Wales
witnessed the concentration of Welsh support around
Henry Tudor. Two political events may have assisted
this.1 The first was the death, after the battle of Tewkes-
bury, of the young Edward, son of Henry VI, and the
last representative of the royal line of Lancaster. The
Lancastrian claims devolved, as a result, upon Henry of
Richmond, who, through his mother the Lady Margaret
Beaufort, descended from John of Gaunt,2 and so was
entitled to the support of the Welsh adherents of the
Red Rose. The second event was the murder of the
young princes in the Tower and the assumption of
the crown by Richard, Duke of Gloucester. This may
well have completed the alienation of the Welsh Yorkists.
Many of their leaders had already perished ; William
Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke, and his brother, Sir
Richard Herbert, had been executed after the battle of
Banbury, Gruffydd ap Nicolas had been slain at Mortimer's
Cross. Their feelings now were outraged by a crime
which extinguished the line of Edward IV. It is

1 1 have somewhat modified my views on the relative importance
of these two events in the light of much helpful criticism from my
Chairman, Mr. W. Llewelyn Williams, K.C., M.P.

2 The Beaufort line descended from John Beaufort, the natural
son of John of Gaunt by Catherine Swynford. It had been legiti-
matized in 1397 [see Rot. Par., iii, 343], though the later Act of
legitimization in 8 Henry IV added the phrase " excepta dignitate
regali ".

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOK.

significant that after this event 110 Welsh armies
rallied for Mortimer, though 011 more than one occa-
sion Welsh support had turned the scales for Eichard
of York and his son, Edward. Nor is it unaccount-
able ; the young princes were in the Brutus line.
And whatever doubts have been cast in modern times
on Richard's guilt it is certain that contemporary opinion
held him responsible for this foul deed. Dafydd Llwyd
ap Llewelyn, in welcoming Henry Tudor, makes a clear
statement :—

"Behold the bards are happier, the world goes easier
after killing 'r"1 — a miserable grey letter ... a Jew it was
who put an end to the Horn of Britain ... a servile Boar
who, in his wardship did imprison the sons of Edward, and
kill his two nephews who were young. Shame on the hang-
lipped Saracen for slaying angels of Christ ".

The Welsh Yorkists, then, were without a leader and
without a cause. It was to be the task of Henry to win
them for his cause and to unite the factions under his
banner.

V.

The appeal of Henry Tudor to his countrymen was two-
fold : it was an appeal, based on kindred, to the chieftains
of the land and it was an appeal to a sense of nationalism.
A remarkable instance of his reliance on kinship is the
letter he wrote to John ap Meredith, the powerful chief-
tain of Eifionydd and a relative of the Tudor s. The
terms of this missive are illuminating and deserve
quotation in full : —

" By the King.

"Right trusty and well-beloved, wee greete you well:
and whereas it is soe, that, through the helpe of Almighty

1 The small "r" for Richard III is, in the poem, contrasted with
the capital letters " I " (Jasper Tudor) and " H " (Henry).

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 25

God, the assistance of our loveing and true subjects, and the
greate confidence that wee have to the nobles and commons
of this our principalitie of Wales, we be entred into the
same, purposing by the helpe above rehearsed, in all haste
possible to descend into our realme of England, not only for
the adoption of the Crowne, unto us of right appertaining,
but also for the oppression of the odious tyrant Richard,
late Duke of Gloucester, usurper of our said right; and
moreover to reduce as well our said realme of England into
its ancient estate, honour, and property, and prosperitie, as
this our said principalitie of Wales, and the people of the
same to their dear erst liberties, delivering them of such
miserable servitude as they have piteously long stood in.
We desire and pray you, and upon your allegiance strictly
charge and command you, that immediately upon the sight
hereof with all such power as ye may make, defencibly
arrayed for the warre, ye addresse you towards us, without
any tarrying upon the way, untill such time as ye be with
us, wheresoever we shall be, to our aide, for the effect above
rehearsed, wherein ye sjiall cause us in time to come to be
your singular good Lord, and that ye faile not hereof as ye
will avoyd our grievous displeasure, and answere it unto
your perill.

" Given under our signet at our [date and place omitted],
" To our trustie and well beloved John ap Meredith ap Jevan

ap Meredith "-1

"The language of this letter", as one distinguished
English historian has remarked, " is not a little extra-
ordinary".2 Henry treats the reigning king as a rebel
against himself, and a tone so bold seems to imply great
confidence in the issue. This is difficult to reconcile with
the view of the English chroniclers and historians who,
following Hall,3 represent Henry's position when he
landed, as very precarious — because no one of influence
joined him until he was well on his way to Bosworth field.
Even Rhys ap Thomas's attitude, according to this version,

1 Gwydir Family, p. 48.

2 Gairdner, Richard III (Cambridge, 1898), p. 214

3 Hall, Chronicle (London, 1809), pp. 407, et seq.

26 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

was doubtful until Henry reached Shrewsbury. But the
letter to John ap Meredith is not in the tone of a man
" nypped at the verie stomacke ",' with his followers
despairing of a happy enterprise. Moreover all the Welsh
accounts agree in making Rhys privy to the plot before
the landing of Henry. The curious Life of Sir Rhys ap
Thomas2 has a lengthy description of the meeting of Ehys
and Henry at Milf ord Haven and of the enthusiasm which
marked Henry's progress through Wales. It is true that
this biography has not the worth of a contemporary
authority (for it was written early in the seventeenth
century), and that it betrays an exaggerated estimate of
its hero's part in the episode, but I am not disposed to
accept the severe criticisms that have recently been passed
on its value.3 For, if we except' the meagre details of the
Croyland continuator, there is no contemporary account
of Henry's journey through Wales, and we are compelled
to follow Hall, the basis for the later writers, or the
Welsh biographer. There is much, it seems to me, to be
said in favour of The Life of Sir Ehys ap Thomas. HalFs
Chronicle is manifestly a history written around a theme,
"the union of the two noble and illustre famelies of
Lancaster and Yorke 'V His object is to show how the
two factions in England, " being long in continual dis-
cension for the croune of this noble realme ", finally united
around the House of Tudor, " the undubitate flower and
very heire of both ". English politics are his concern

1 Hall, ibid.

2 Cambrian Register, 1 795.

3 Evans, Wales and the Wars of the Roses (Cambridge, 1915), "We
must therefore dismiss as worthless the idle story of the family
biographer in the Cambrian Reyister ..." (p. 6); also' pp. 12-14, 23
and 211 ('• there is so much deliberate fabrication in that document
that it would be dangerous to place any reliance on it").

4 See title page to the original edition of 1548.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 27

and it would have in no way suited his purpose to have
embodied the Welsh account even if he had knowledge of
it. On the other hand the biographer, though he is as
manifestly inspired by his theme and though he writes
some fifty years later than Hall, was a Welshman with
Welsh sources and local traditions accessible to him.
That he could have given to the world a fabrication
openly at variance with the story as accepted in South
Wales is highly improbable. Moreover the Welsh poems,
both vaticinatory and personal, are unanimous in speak-
ing of Rhys as the mainstay of the expedition from the
outset,1 and the contemporary English ballad, The Song of
the Lady Bessy, makes ap Thomas a party to the enter-
prise before Henry's landing.2

Another incident, recorded by Hall, would seem to
indicate that Henry himself at least was confident of
Welsh support. Early in 1485 Richard III, to thwart
the designs of his enemies, contemplated a marriage with
his niece, Elizabeth of York, the proposed bride of

1 e.g., Lewis Glyn Cothi's poem to Jasper Tudor — written before
the landing: —

Cymer di, wyr Cymmry d'acb,
Y Vran yn dy gyvrinach.

Lewis Glyn Cothi, Poems, Dos. viii, 5.

2 The ballad describes how Stanley, preparing for the plot, con-
cealed the Lady Bessy in Leicester and sent Lord Strange to
Richard III to lull his suspicions ; and —

Thereon the hart's head was set full high . . .

Sir Gilbert Talbot ten thousand doggs

In one hour's warning for to be,

And Sir John Savage fifteen white hoods,

Which would fight and never flee ;

Edward Stanley had three hundred men,

There were no better in Christantye ;

Sir Rees ap Thomas, a knight of Wales certain,

Eight thousand spears brought he.

The most pleasant Song of Lady Bessy (Percy Soc.), p. 33.

28 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

but apparently, under pressure of public opinion, the plan
was abandoned.1 Hall gives some additional details : —

"... tydynges were brought to hym [Henry] that
Kynge Richard beynge without children and now wy dower,
entended shortly to mary with Lady Elizabeth his brothers
daughter . . -. He [Henry] tooke these newes as a matter
of no small momente, arid so all thynges considered it was
of no less importaunce than he tooke it for. For this thyng
only took awaie from all his compaignions their hope and
courage that they had to obteine an happie enterprise.
And therefore no marvell though it nypped hym at the
verie stomacke when he thought that by no possibilitie he
might attayne the mariage of any of Kynge Edwardes
daughters, which was the strongest foundation of his building. . .

"Wherfore makynge not many of his Councell, after
dyverse consultacions he determined not yet to set forwards
but to tary and attempte how to get more ayde, more
frendes and more stronger succoures. And amongest
all other, it was thought moost expedient to allure by
affinite in his ayde as a compagnion in armes Sir Walter
Herbert a man of an aunciente stocke and greate powre
emongest the Welshmen, whiche had wyth hym a faire
Ladye to his suster, of age mature and ripe to be coupled in
matrimonie. And for the acheuynge of this purpose,
messengers were secretely sent .... but the weies were so
well narrowly watched and so many spies laide that the

messenger preceded not in his journey and bnsynes

The Earl of Richmond because he woulde no lenger lynger
and weerry hys frends lyvynge continually betweene hope
and feare, determyned in all conveniente haste to sett
forwarde .... ",2

The picture here of a plotter driven, by the collapse of
his scheme, to a desperate enterprise is not one that
accords with the character of the cool and cautious Henry,
that " wonder for wise men ".3 If the marriage with
Elizabeth was "the strongest foundation of his building"
it is unlikely that a politician so shrewd arid calculating
would have proceeded with the expedition when this
scheme collapsed. It is,, it seems to me, indisputable that

1 Cont. Croyland, 571, 572. 2 Hall, Chronicle, pp. 409-410.

3 See Bacon's Henry VII.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 29

the Earl of Richmond attached less importance to securing
the English Yorkists by this marriage than Hall would
lead us to suppose. Henry relied on his own countrymen:
his appeal was to his kindred in North Wales, and doubt-
less by this time he knew that Rhys ap Thomas and other
( men of power ' in South Wales were committed to his
cause. Hence, though the proposed marriage with the
heiress of York would consolidate his position in England,
the fact that he was ready to abandon it and yet carry out
his plans for invasion indicates that, first and foremost, he
looked with confidence to Wales for support.

Henry had every reason to put his trust in his fellow-
countrymen. The ground had been prepared for his
coming by the vigorous propaganda of the bards. For
they recognized in him the appearance of a leader who
might well claim to fulfil the prophecies ; another Owen
or Cadwaladr who could rescue his race. The attitude of
the Welsh towards the Tudors had been doubtful and
lukewarm, but once the bards realized the possibilities of
Henry as a national hero they addressed themselves,
with a vociferous zeal and with a remarkable success,
to concentrate the national sentiment upon him. The
nature of this propaganda is clear from the vaticinations.
It was an appeal addressed to the chieftains for, as it has
been observed, the obscurity of the bruts would make
them difficult of comprehension except to the expert —
the household bard of the chieftain. And, in an essenti-
ally tribal community, if the chieftains were once secured
the people would follow their natural leaders. Hence it
is that the bards stress the high descent of Henry, for
that was his claim upon the chieftain of blood. The
validity of his descent from Cadwaldr must stand or fall
with the accuracy of the body of Welsh genealogies,
but there can be no doubt that it was accepted at

30 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

the time. Yet as he appealed to the heads of clans
the position of his family becomes a question of great
importance. The myth of the modest origin and doubt-
ful antecedents of the Tudors has already been exploded1
and need not be touched on here. The contemporary
poem which follows not only confirms beyond doubt the
belief in Henry's exalted lineage but illustrates the
strength of the national sentiment which centred round
him. It is remarkable also because, unlike the great
majority of the vaticinations, it is in the ' awdl ' and not
the ' cywydd ' form. The title — Owdl Badrig — is curious :
it may be that the name Patrick is used to typify Henry
or, more likely, that the word is a form of ' Patricius .'-
a designation of nobility in the middle ages.

THE PATRICK ODE.2

Noble Lion, wherever thou comest thou art the avenger of the
weak, even as an Emperor ; and a higher honour, beloved man, was
thine from the blood of Tewdwr.

The Tewdwr3 of thy nation, of the stamp of the fathers of our hosts
like lions or wolves ; thy father and thy mother were surely ever the
most excellent of mates.

Thy grace like Melwas, thousands seek thee and come to thy
courts. Compared to thy mansions and thy towns the great city of
Troy was but a hamlet.

The towns of Man are under seal to thy possession, eight armies
from battle— the towns of Kilgwri openly [for thee], and the towns
of the North without travail.

A highway was made to the north in dignity, earl with the golden
cuirass, of handsome bearing; a lion in the chase and a father to all
in thy kingdom.

1 See The Union of England and Wales, by W. Llewelyn Williams
(Trans. Cymmrodorion Soc., 1907-8). 2 For text see Appendix I.

3 The use of Tewdwr (Lat., Thc-odorus) — not Tudur (Lat., tutor] — is
significant and is, no doubt, an appeal to the South. Henry could
claim descent from Rhys ap Tewdwr, King of Deheubarth, through
the marriage of Gwenllian, great grandaughter of Rhys, with Ednyfed
Vychan. The reference, too, was the more appropriate because it
recalled the story of Rhys's exile in Brittany.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 31

The kingdoms and the lands of the fearless adventurer, a con-
queror like i)yfnwal [thou wilt win]. Bendigedfran the warrior was
less than thou when he fought of yore.

Thou art a stouter man, saith prophet, than the Sultan; thy
bearing was purer. Patrick ! who so noble in all the world, with
thy four descents ?

Thy descent was purer than baron or duke's, for it fell from a
Briton. May none of our nation in this world be bereft of thee in
our day.

This is a world that loves to behold thee and to call thee a second
Jasper. Attain, through God, the height of the oak, great ruler of
land and sea !

Make peaceful the earth to the innocent and weak, and win
blessings; and drive the proud from Chester to Anglesey in humilia-
tion until they are subdued.

Tame the Saxons ; if thou livest, forgive not one single traitor.
Patrick, thou art our prophet, a champion like mighty Efrog.

A hundred men are in thy halls seeking refuge from cares; a
hundred countries will stand steadfast under thee; a hundred
thousand be thy seed of generous goodmen, none of the seed of
Adam has been so lavish.

Ivor, it hath been recorded, gave yellow gold to those who praised
him. Patrick, by Curig! thou hast loved the loyal men, thou hast
not given less of golden nobles.

Gifted is thy countenance in the midst of men ; gifted are thy
children. May God give the prospering of mighty trees, the stalwart
green trees, in thy descendants — thou Eagle !

Take to wife a maid A betrothed thou shalt have from

the blood of dukes, a maid who is kindred to the knights.1

Uphold a court there in generous-wise, with food unstinted for
everyone. Thy rhine-wine to all will they give: thy claret and thy
liquor to drink like waters of the river;

And bread in stacks before the brave and thy kitchen like the
Shrove Feast and thy cooks all wearied : food for the minstrels and
full tables and the thrumming of harps and bounteous meals.

Demand thou the forts of Man, demand the men of Meirion ;
demand the land of the North and part of Ireland. Demand the
Welsh to thy side and they will come to thee; demand England
under thee and the despoiling of her people.

Thou wilt put thy fear on a hundred men in thy white armour —
they will dare not to await thee unless they are brave. The strength

1 Elizabeth of York.

82 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

of the son of lorwerth is in thy goodly arms— offspring of princes,
thou of the many feasts !

Thy wine to the minstrels and the green gowns, and bread in
stacks before the brave. By the holy God ! no braggart art thou —
to the poor thou art a good compatriot, without reproach.

When thou goest to tarry in the land of the brave unnoticed will
be the strangers about thee : thou art of the same arm and the same
breast as Lear — to a hundred warriors thou wilt cause care.

Woe to the proud, wherever thou art, under thy fear. Thou shalt
have what thou wilt on thy throne. Where thou goest thou wilt be
called a Peter of the fight, noble Patrick.

The vaticinations were addressed to the sense of
nationalism which had been denned by Geoffrey and
which still remained a potent force through the centuries
of oppression and disappointment. But it was a national
sentiment that centred on Henry Tudor. It was the call
of an individual leader embodying the national aspira-
tions rather than the devotion to an abstract idea of
nationalism that, on this occasion as on many another in
the history of Wales, united the people. Henry appealed
to the ancient historic memories of the age, to the past
that is ever present with the Celt ; he was ' mab y
darogan ', in whom the prophecies were to be fulfilled ; he
was the long-promised hero who was to deliver the race
from the intolerable yoke of the Saxon ; he was the prince
in the true Brutus succession, the descendant of Cadwaladr
who was to wear the iron Crown of Britain.

The Bards have befooled the world ; God knows it, but he
will save. Everyone speaks of a reckoning between our race
and the foreigners, were we but to wait for one who will strike,
a high-born Briton of the stock of Maelgwn, the peacock of

Tudor, greatest of sires who will gild all with solid gold

The knell of the Saxon, when we win, will give a chief judge

of our race Cadwaladr shall come home, with his

eightfold gifts, from his deeds . . . Woe to the black host beside
the wave! When ill fortune comes — strangers ! — Jasper1 will

Jasper Tudor,

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 33

breed for us a Dragon — of the fortunate blood of Brutus is he
.... A Bull of Anglesey to achieve ; he is the hope of our race.
A great gift is the birth of Jasper of the line of Cadwaladr of
the beautiful spear. Horsa and Hengist were strangers to the
Brut of Greece and the Round Table ; Vortigerh brought shame
on us by giving them a share of our land. Jasper was ordained
for us, he will draw us out of the net and set us free .... After
travail will come the Lily Crown to Beli of Anglesey1 . . .

The lore of Merlin was invoked and the Welsh hero
promised by the mighty prophet had at last appeared.
Dafydd Llwyd ap Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, great among
vaticinators and the most learned poet of his age in
Wales, shows clearly, in the poem which follows, the
abiding power of the Merlin prophecies. I quote this
example at some length, not only because it illustrates the
passionate interest with which the bards followed Henry's
movements (and from the reference to the fleet from
Brittany it would seem that they were well informed), but
because it contains some exquisite nature poetry. It is
addressed to the birch — a tree hallowed by its associations
with Merlin — and the second part of the poem contains
the answer given by the birch to the questions put to it :

The fine-haired white boled birch standing out boldly on the
skirt of the wood, a nun art thou, in thy seclusion free to show
thy hair — the broad fringes of the wayside — a gown of nap under
thy green cap. Fair thou art. Myrddin Fardd of the great
gifts has sung to thee : under thy roof of immaculate wattle has
he sung. The far-off orchard of his muse was once a shelter to
his Parchell. Thou hast once had, when war was unforgotten,
the profound learning of Myrddin's art. Say, thou birch on the
slope of Plinlimmon, what are the tidings ? And thou, lance-
like in beauty, what times are ahead ?

After this innocuous and veiled opening the birch speaks
and gives the answer : —

Myrddin the wizard has said that ... the wheel will turn
.... And a fleet will cast off; from Brittany it will come to

1 For text see Appendix II.

34 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

land .... David, grave of heart, the soul of miracles, said to
Non, 'We are come from parents of noble race in this island'.
Whoso can behold the eternal sun of the seed of Essyllt, away
from all tumult. He who shall win Owen's crown will raise
these above the orb and bring concord to our native land —
bountiful Jesus!— and the island of Brutus undivided, ever
better from this hence-forth.1

The vaticinations concur in making certain statements
such as references to the Feast of the Virgin, the ' long
yellow summer ' (though this is an echo of earlier pro-
phecies it may well have a topical significance)2 the sailing
of the fleet from Brittany, which would seem to suggest
that they were used to disseminate information as to
Henry's movements.

When the Bull3 comes from the far land to battle

with his great ashen spear, to be an earl again in the land of
Llewelyn, let the far-splitting spear shed the blood of the Saxons
on the stubble. Then the Boar,4 in Harry's day, will snarl when
it comes to fighting with us. .... When the long yellow sum-
mer comes and victory comes to us and the spreading of the
sails of Brittany and when the heat comes and when the
fever is kindled, there are portents that victory will be given to
us. When we sing together on the heights of Caergylchwr then
there will be fire in Manaw and a proud progress through Angle-
sey .... and Denbigh awaits us and flames in Rhuddlan and
Rhos. Entangled will be the fight and wonderful will be its end.
.... And the World will become ha.ppy at last to blessed
Gwynedd.5

Or again the appeal here is to an individual chieftain :

Heavy fighting shall we see, Watkin, on a day that will come
upon us. The mighty battle and the Bull with the valiant horns

1 For text see Appendix III.

2 The Battle of Bosworth was fought on 22nd August.

3 Henry Tudor.

4 Richard III.

5 Text in Hist. MSS. Com. Rept. ( Welsh MSS.), vol. I, pt. ii, pp. 408-9.
The Commissioner has calendared this poem as an elegy to Prince
Llewelyn, but it is clear from the contents and authorship that it
belongs to this period.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 85

are yet to come. The great allies seen yonder are reaching land :
there is an angry end to the long yellow summer after all its

bravery It will not be long before the Boar is cold. . . .

A brave hero with a golden cloak will turn to Gwynedd

and the shout will pierce through the hostile wintry wind to

Gwent and Euas It is land that the Bull of Anglesey

will demand— the stone towers of three crowns. And when a
mass is sung under the tested canopy of the tree, it becomes
dead wood when Jesus Christ, who gave his pledge, is crowned ;
bark, leaves, yea! unwithered, will grow upon it — such is the
beneficence of the Almighty.1

These poems, reviving as they did long deferred hopes,
were undoubtedly an incentive to action. Not only did
they unify all the elements that made for a homogeneous
nationalism, but they stirred the bellicose spirit and the
hatred for the English. The energy of a martial race,
restless and chafing under misrule, had hitherto spent it-
self in feuds and tribal factions ; it was now to be diverted
to the greater issues of a cause that could claim to be
truly national. At the same time, the bards did not for-
get to emphasize, there was a golden opportunity for
revenge on the Saxon oppressor. The hour had long
been delayed, but it was now at hand.

The dreams of the bards have been delayed — thus said an
ancient seer. If he seeks to interpret a seer let him interpret by

the records of the wise man If there was truth in

the past ages that evil times would come, there is across the
seas afar a marvel of greatest promise. The day of the pro-
phecies comes nearer us : the fate of the wicked coming to the
land of Rhonwen. The first storm-cloud that I see is the great
wrong to the men of blessed Cymru. There is an ancient sage
near who will not dare to rebuke them .... Portents through
Anglesey and beyond I saw and wept .... And the Eagle in
golden trappings and the Dragon are sought for from afar ....
An evil prophecy of a tall Dragon who will be set upon the Bull.
The fleet of the Viper and Eagle will come to land from Manaw,

For text see Appendix IV.

D2

36 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

and the Gwyddel will raise a shout and come nearer our nation.
.... And the Hog1 will return to the land, ravaging Cymru in

hatred, with destruction in every town The brutal

ravagers will wait for a holy-day in Anglesey For the

Feast of the Virgin I will watch ; they will come to Ty Ddewi.
And the Cymry will judge the world, and there will be havoc
there too. The son of Anglesey will gild his children and his
ancestors. Let disaster visit the world beyond — eternal peace
will remain with him.2

The vaticinations did their work well ; they propagated a
nationalism which, for the first time in Welsh history, was
acceptable'to the whole land. At least it was unquestion-
ingly accepted in North Wales, because of the hold of the
Tudors in that part. With, the strong ties of kinship that
existed it was no difficult task to commend to the men of
Gwynedd a national cause that centred around Henry
Tudor. How far these generalizations apply to South Wales
it would, in the present lack of data, be unsafe to say. A
considerable body of literature is calendared in the Hist-
orical Manuscripts Commission reports which should throw
light on this subject, but, as yet, practically none of it has
been published. There are indications, however, that the
forces of nationalism were at work in the South as well.3
To Gwynedd the appeal was direct :—

Of like condition has wide Gwynedd been, following the
crown, as the blind witless man who once was bound, I know it is
so, by shackles to the foot of that ancient pillar of yore and who
pulled in one hour the building down on his own head. Thus is
Gwynedd to-day, bruised and with sore wounds, seeking a feeble
prophet as a leader. There is one better — if they but knew —
from Anglesey, one of ancient stock. Turn thy art, an Edward
thou art, towards the North Sea— a great Bull art thou. Be
kind of deed and word to the good Cymry, thou valiant Cymro.
Paul of many gifts was once immeasurable in folly Mary

1 Richard III. 2 For text see Appendix V.

3 See footnote 3, ante, p. 30.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 37

Magdalene was for a time wanton of body. They attained heaven
and peace through Jesus who was buried. If all the Cymry have
been full of faults and evil, yet they will do their part in thy
need — thou beauteous Bull . . . .l

The following extract from a sombre brut seems to in-
dicate the effort to consolidate the South.

A fire has been kindled in the land from Cynan, it will not
be decried, a yellow-tipped flickering flame to Owen of the blood
of the South. Prophesying has there been of the Dragon of our
race — the worthy lord of the territory. Under a cloak comes a
leader and he that we name is the second Harry from Harry the
outlaw— may he remain a hero to the ninth [generation]. Not
easily will the Duke snare the swallow in his net. The descent
of the noble hero, his three highest descents, are searched. In-
sistent are the Dragon and the Bull. Let Somerset watch him
and may the brave [one] with the spear not leave a lily in the

garden of one Lollard The Bull of Gwynedd will

engage in battle; the gate of Calais and Venice he will win.
Secure for us is the Star of Owen. . . .2

The references here, as in other poems of the period, to
an Owen is a heritage from the former prophecies. The
name now associated with Owen of Manaw, Owen ap
Edwin, Owen Lawgoch, Owen Glyndwr and Owen Tudor
has passed, like Cadwaladr, into a figurative designation
for the long expected leader. A curious story in the his-
tory of Ellis Griffith relates that Henry Tudor was first
named Owen, and although by the command of the Lady
Margaret the name was changed, the Welsh continued
to call him Owen rather than Henry.3

As the hour of Henry's landing drew nearer the bards
grew bolder ; they spoke openly and fearlessly. The whole
land was deeply stirred and the country-side was aflame
with expectation. The fame of the vaticinations reached

1 For text see Appendix VI.

2 For text see Appendix VII.

3 See extract from the Mostyn MS. of Ellis Griffith's History of
Wales, printed in Evans, Wales and the Wars of the Roses, pp. 14-15.

38 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

the uneasy King for in May, 1485, Richard sent a fleet
to Southampton, having heard of some prophecy that the
enemy would land at Milford, which he took to be a small
village of that name in Hampshire.1 The bards, in their
enthusiasm, were confident of an immediate triumph :

This is the day that will save us, [the day] for the beloved
Bull to venture forth. The Mole will fall and a vengeance on
him will go throughout the world ; A Mole full of poison, a Jew
of slender body ...... We are waiting for him [Henry] to

show, when he comes, the Red Rose in high pomp. The Thames
will run red with blood on that day, and then we shall be satis-
fied ; their end will be on that day. No Saxon will go a second
time to the battlefield. There is longing for Harry, there is
hope for our race. His name comes down from the mountains
as a two-edged sword, and his descent from high blood.2

But the most touching expression of the hope and fears of
Wales on the eve of Bosworth is the Ode to St. David
written by Dafydd Llwyd as a prayer to the saint to rescue
the Welsh in their hour of need and to foretell the battle.3
This stately poem, touched with mysticism and coloured
by the lore and legends of the saints, is inspired by the
noble and almost pathetic conviction of the ultimate
triumph of the Welsh race. It opens with various refer-
ences to the life and miracles of David and concludes with
a prophecy of Bosworth and a prayer for victory : —

ODE TO SAINT DAVID.

David, before thou wast born Mynyw was ordained to pray to thee,
and Patrick went to dwell from Mynyw across the far river.4

When Non came to the temple, immaculately pregnant by the

1 Cont. Croy,, 573.

2 For text see Ccinion Llenyddiaeth Gymreiy, vol. i, pp. 220-221.

3 See note to Appendix VIII.

4 Rhygyvarch, "Vita Sancti David" ( Y Cymmrodor, vol. xxiv) § 3,
Tandem animus Patricii sedatus libenter dimisit locum sanctum
Dauid agio ; . . . .riavigavitque Patricius in Hiberniam.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 39

chosen prince,1 the prelate uprose from his chair and was not able to
preach a word.2

God gifted thee what day thou wert born when thou wert named
David. Thou gavest to the. blind his sight unglimmering — on a day
famed in story;3

Giving part of the white loaf and thy meal to a host, and of the
unpoisoned portioned — and thy dog, ere he could turn and thy raven
died there 4

Though thou wert tenderly nurtured until clerkly age, strong as a
warrior thou art ; for thy need, thou stripling, thou wouldest not
have feasts but bread and water.5

Eight score thousand have praised thee, David, for thy discourse
on a day ; the stags came from under sheltering trees afar to hearken
on the same day.

Recorded is it that, within the bounds of Cwm Brefi, the solid
earth rose up under thy feet.6

David, where thou art all the race is come ; a long calamity is
coming — the term of the stranger — heavy is my thought !

Many a prayer against utter disaster and weary they were without
a place of refuge ; in straits have we also been placed — set us free.
Those who are, who were, who will be,
All the wise, daily, to set us free,
To the Father of the Faith let all go with staff.

This is the time when strife will come ; David is angered, with the
blade in his hand, naming many in this age.

1 Ibid., § 4. Invenitque rex obviam sibi sanctimonialem, nomine
Nonnitam virginem, puellam pulcrarn nimis et decoram, quam concu-
piscens tetigit vi oppressam, et concepit filium suum David agium,
que nee antea nee postea virum agnovit, sed in castitate mentis et
corporis perseverans fidelissimam duxit vitam.

2 Ibid., § 5. Ingressa autem matre, subito Gildas obmutescens
quasi clause gutture tacuit. Cf. also Historia Reyum, VII, iii. Et
predicator Hyberniae propter infantem in utero crescentem obmu-
tescet.

* Ibid. §§7, 11.

* Ibid., § 38.

5 Ibid., §2. . . . ita iste [David], vinum et siceram et omne quod
inebriare potest respuens, beatam Deo vitam in pane tantum et aqua
duxit.

6 Ibid., § 52. Cum autem clara voce omnibus et qui in proximo et
qui in longinquo erant equaliter predicaret, terra, sub ipso accrescens,
attollitur in collem.

40 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOK.

It has been bruited that the Mole, who kills and will be killed, is
near. Nine cares will be seen ;

Restless men — woe to the Honey Isle! — after the conflict the blood
of stallions and a bewildering fear among the folk :

And the sweat on shirts and blows on the body and the water in
jerkins and Deira in pain and joy upon joy with the innocent ;

And the levying of the tax that causes the battle to apparel
warriors against the folk from the land of the Vine and White
Flowers.

Behold the giving of battle ; watch the sea and the colouring of the
Thames for a cold season and the overthrowing of the fair-seeming
leader.

In the white gleaming East, with long swords, in the setting of the
sun, there will be most wear on the ashen spear

Men will prepare to close the estuaries to get them ready to battle
from the sea coasts to the land of Meirion ;

Testing and smoothing all the chief havens, in their vengeance, and
the portals of the south from Milford to Caledonia.

And the city of England will be reduced under thee ; the world
will be driven, the Boar made cold and the Mole will flee.

Many a nobleman will there be, many their wounds, many a
generous duke will suffer pain, many an iron spear and mighty
armour ;

Many a banner shall fall to the ground daily, many a great shout
in England. Where the flimsy woods are, there is the tip of the
ash.

David, by thy holy grades, by thy spotless life, by the prayers and
the Fridays, we pray thee also, David, grant us freedom at last from
misery, O just Judge !

And this year Gwynedd looks for a hundred vengeances on the
bodies of our foemen.

Foemen will remain this year in every field before the end of
September. Every broad land, all of our race, every district, every-
body for David.1

The prayer was answered ; St. David was mindful of
his children. The dragon of Cadwaladr, a 'red fiery dragon
beaten upon white and green sarcenet'/ floated over
Henry's army at Bos worth field ; the dragon of Wales and
the Beaufort greyhound appear as supporters of the throne

1 For text see Appendix VIII.

2 Hall, Chronicle, p. 423.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 41

on the coinage of the first Tudor monarch of England.
Nor were these empty symbols ; they represented facts.
Henry had appealed to his own race and his nationality
had decided the struggle. The crown of Cad waladr rested
asrain on the brows of a Briton.

.
APPENDICES.

OWDL BADRIG.

:— British Museum Add. MSS. 14,971, fos. 170-172.
Variants:— (a)==B. Mus. Add. MS. 14,971, fos. 304b-307.
(b)=Aberystwyth MSS. 2, fo. HOb.

Llew gwych lie y delych dialwr | dros wan

Un synwyr ac Emprwr1
A gradd uwch garuaidd wr
yt ydoedd o waed Tewdwr

Tewdwr dy2 genedl o ryw teidiau | n lluoedd

fal llewod ne fleiddiau
Dy dad ath fam ddiamau
erioed oedd yn oreu dau3

» * « •»
Dy ras fal4 Mehvas miloedd|yn d ofyn

yn dyfod ith lysoedd
Wrth dy bias ath ddinasoedd
Kaer droea6 fawr Kordref oedd

Trefydd6 manaw sydd dan seljith feddiant

Wyth fyddin o ryfel
Trefi Kilgwri heb gel
Trefi r nordd heb ddim trafel

Gwnaud briffordd ir nordd mewn urddas | yn larll

Yn eurlliw dy guras
Yn Ian sud yn lew n y sias
Yn dad arnun drwy r dyrnas

1 un swydd ag Emprwr (b). 2 y (b). 3 yr ioed oedd'orau dau (a) ;
erioed oedd ore dau (b). 4 mal (a) 5 Droya (a). « Trefi (a).

42 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

Tyrnassoedd tiroedd anturiwr j di ofnog

fal dyfnwal gwnkvverwr
bendigeidran ymwanwr
yn lladd gynt llai oedd y gwr

Gwr wyd medd proffwyd prafFach | no sawden

d'osodiad1 oedd burach
Padrig pwy foneddigach
or byd erioed bedair iach2

Dy ach3 oedd burach na barwn | ne ddug

ai ddigwydd4 o fryttwn
na bo in oes5 neb on nasiwn6
hebod ti7 yn y byd hwn

hwn y w r byd i gyd a gar j dyweled

dy alw ail Siasbar
ewch drwy dduw uchder y ddar
mawr o deyrn mor a daiar

Gwna ddaiar yn war i wirion | gweniaid8

ag ynill fendithion
a gyrr feilch o gaer i foil
yn ddi feilch oni ddofon

Gvvna'n ddofion9 saeson os oesswr | fyddi

na fadde un falsswr
Padrig wyd yn proffwyd wr
fal Efrog nerthog yn wr

Kannwr yn dy stal rhag10 gofalon
Kanwlad a sai danad yn sad union
Kanmil fo dy hil o haelion wyrda
ni bu o ryw Adda neb un roddion

Ifor a roddes e11 fu arwyddion
i wyr ai moliannodd aur melynion
Padrig myn Kurig ky wirion | hoffaist12
ni bu lai y rhoddaist noblau rhuddion

1 dy sodiad (a, b). 2 or \>yd erioed i bedair iach (a, b).

8 iach (a, b). * ddigedd (a). 5 hoes (a). 6 onhassiwn (a).

7 di (a). 8 gweiniaid (a) ; ag w . . . (b). 9 gwna ddofion (a) ;

gwna yn ddofion (b).

10 nag (a). >i fo (a, b). ™ a hoffaist (a, b).

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOE. 43

Dawnus yw cly ffriw ym mysg dyniori
doniog1 yw dy blant nid rhaid unon
kyrmydd kadeirwydd2 koed irion pybyr
a ro duw eryr ar dy wyrion

Prioda di ferch drwy annerchion
o chaniedir3 yt aur a chan heidion
Dyweddi a geffi o gyffion dugiaid
merch agos o waed ir marchogion

Kynheliwch chwi lys ackw n haelion4
a bwydydd i bawb nid arbedon
dy rwmnai i bob rhai y rhon dy glared5
dy fir iw yfed fal dwfr afon

Ar bara n dyrrau gar bron dewrion
ath gegin fal ynyd ath gogau n flinion
a lluniaeth i gler" a llownion fyrddau
a sio gan dannau a seigiau n dyniori

Myn gaerau manaw myn i gwyr meirion
Myn dir7 y nordd myn di8 ran o werddon
Myn gymru ar du a don hyd attad
A myn loegr danad myn lygru i dynion.

Ti a derfi ganwr yn darfau gwnion
ni beiddian9 daros oni byddan dewrion
Mae nerth mab lorwerth ith burion freichiau
Wr tew i seigiau or tywysogion

dy win i gerddwyr dy ynau10 gwyrddion
ar bara n dyrau gar bron dewrion
yn11 duw Iwyd nid wyd ar don rhuadwr
.Diwarth wyd o wladwr wrth dylodioii12

1 downog (a, b). 2 Kydeirwydd (b).

3 cheniedir (a) ; chyniedir (b).

4 Kynheliwch i lys ucho yn haelion (a, b).

5 dy cwmnai i bob rhai nhw ai rhon dy glared (a, b).

6 glerwyr (a, b). 7 di r (a). 8 dy (a).

9 beiddion (a) ; beiddiwn (b).

10 ownau (a, b). n myn (a, b).
12 diwarth wyd o wladwr da wrth d'lodion (a).

44 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

Pan elych di i dario i wlad y dewrion
diystyra1 yna fydd destronion -
un ddeuf raich ydwyd un ddwyf ron j a llyr
i gant o filwyr i gwnaud ofalon

Gwae weision beilchion lie bych |tan darswyd

Kai n d'orsedd a fynnych
Dy alw a wnair lie delych
yn bedr y gad Badrig wych

Hywel Eurddren ai K.2 [Bedo oedd. ai Kant].3

II.
BRUT.

Text :— Bleddyn MS. 3, fos. 48-49.*

Y Beirdd ynfydodd y byd
Duw ai gwyr ond ei gweryd
Pawb yn son am ddigoni
Rhwng anghyfiaith a'n iaith ni
Ond aros un a dery
O hil Faelgwn fritwn fry
Paen Tudur pena tadwys
A eura pawb o aur pwys

* # * *
[line 13] Clul Saeson wrth ddigoni

A rhod pen rhaith on iaith ni
Wath5 oedran y gwr glana
A fagodd Mair ddiwair dda
Madws in wrth amodau
Llygru gwyr o fewn lloegr gau

1 dystyra (a) ; distyra (b).

2 Hywel Eurddrein ai Kant (a) ; Howel Enrddren ai . . . . (b).

3 Marginal insertion in a later hand.

4 The Bleddyn MSS. are transcripts made by William Jones of
Llangollen about 1865, and are now at Aberystwyth. For the texts
and collations taken from these manuscripts I am indebted to my
colleague, Mr. J. Glyn Davies. To him also, on all the difficul-
ties of metre, syntax and interpretation in fifteenth century litera-
ture my debt is that of a pupil, and cannot be adequately acknow-
ledged here.

5 = fe aeth or wrth.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 45

Ag ynill wrth fawr gariad
I tir ai tai yw'n tref tad
Gwiliwch waith gwelwch weithian
Yr ych yn achub ei ran

# * * *
[line 29] Cadwaladr a ddaw adref

Wythryw dawn oi weithred ef
Ych o Gymru gyru r gad
Ar Llew a ddifa r lleuad
Gv/ae r llu du gerllaw r don
Os daw r anhap estronion
Jaspart a fag in ddragwn
Gwaed Bruttiis happus yw hwn
Gwers yr angel iii chelir
Hwyntau biau r tyrau tir
Darw o Fon yn digoni
Hwn yw gobaith yr iaith ni
Mawr yw gras eni Jasper
Hil Gadwaladr paladr per
Hors a Hengest oedd estron
I Friwt Groeg ag i Fort Gron
Gwrtheyrn a wnaeth gwarth i ni
Hoi rhan o r tir ir rhieni
Jaspar in a ddarparwyd
Ynte yn rhydd an tyn or rhwyd

* * * *
[line 57] Wedi cur i daw coron

Lili i Feli o Fon. D. Llwyd.

III.
CYWYDD BRUT.1

Text:—&. Mus. Stowe MS. 959 (written circa 1570).
Variants:— (a)=B. Mus. Add. MS. 14866 (written 1587).
(b)=-Bleddyn MS. 3, fo. 61.

Y vedwenn vonnwen veinwallt2
Eglur wyd o gil yr allt

1 (a) has Tmofyn ar fedwen . . . pa fyd a fyddai achos nad oedd
fodlon ir brenin Richard III. a daroyan Harri 7. a rhyddhine1) i

Gymbru.

2 fanwallt (a).

46 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

mynaches wyd mewn achydd1

Egltir wyd dan n gwl rydd2

Privon3 sidanydd ywch priffyrdd

O dair4 dann dy gappann gwyrdd

myrddin vardd mawr ddawn y vodd

wyt deg iawn yt n ganodd

dan dy do u fo a vy6

per wiw6 adail yn prydy

y7 Fallen ber awen bell

bai orchwydd* gynt ai9 barchell

kevaist draw kyfrwyb driu10

mawrddyst kyfrwyddyd11 Myrddin

manog12 y vedwen ywch13 mynydtl

Pennlimon bu son a sydd

A ffa vyd enyd onawg

garvv wyr hardd a gair yr hawg14

* * * *
[line 23] myrddin ddewin a ddywod

kynn traio a rain15 y try rhod

* * * *
[line 53] A r16 llynges a ollyngir

o lydaw i daw i dir

gwyr llychlyn a dynn yrdwr17

drwy gennad a18 droganwr

* * * #
Dewi ddifri i ddwyfron19
Wyrth nef a ddwad wrth Non19

1 echwydd (a).

2 gul iawn dan goel o wydd (a) ; eglur vvallt dan egwl rudd (b).

3 preiffion (b). 4 o dair bann dy gappan gwyrdd (a) ; O ban (b).
5 a than dy do efe fy (a) ; dan dy do y f o a fu (b).

0 pur iawn (a) ; pur wiw (b). 7 oi (b). 8 bu orchudd (b).

9 iw (b).

10 kefaist draw kofiast y drin (a) ; cefaist draw oedd cofus drin (b).

11 mawrddysg gel fyddyd (a, b). 12 mynag (b). 13 is (b).

14 gwar waew hardd a geir y rhawg (b).

15 kyn traio rhain y try rhod (a) ; cyn treio hyn y try rhod (b).

16 a (a, b). n llychlyn a dyn dros y dwr (b). 18y(a, b).

19 These lines do not occur in Stowe, but in (a) as given, and (b)
reads —

" dewi ddifri i dwyfron
wyrthnwyf dywed wrth Non."

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOE. 47

[line 63] a r1 ynys o rieni

o raday mair2 y rydym ni
a hanffo3 heb gyffro gwyllt
haul oysawg4 o hil Essyllt
gwyr newydd6 goron Owain
ywch y rod a ddyrcha rain
a chael kymmod y r6 brodir
gwiw lesu hael ag oes hir
Ag ynys Bryttys heb rann
y hil well o hynn allann.7

D. Llwyd.

IV.
CYWYDD BRUT.

Text:— Bleddyn MSS. fos. 52-53.

{line 25] Eto cawn drin watcyn drom
Ddivvrnod a ddaw arnom
I mae cadeu mawr cedyrn
A r Tarw n ol gwrol i gyrn
Mae r Aliwns raavvr a welir
Ynghod yn dyfod i dir
Mae r haf wedi mawr ryfig
Hir felyn terfyn oed dig
Mae r gwyddyl in ymyl ni
Bydd byr mae r Baedd heb oeri
•*#*•*

[line 45] Ai gwaedd a gyraedd drwy gas
Gwynt gauaf Gwent ag Euas
Llawer deigr llwyr i digiwyd
Llesau r forwyn ar llwyn llwyd
A char i Haw ni cheir lies
I doe ddug a dwy dduges
Tir a fyn y Tarw o Fon
Tyrau cerig tair coron
A phari ganer offeren
Tan frig profedig y pren

1 yn r (a, b). 2 mawr (a, b). 3 ganffo (a, b).

4 oesawl (b). 5 gwr a wna (b). 6 ir (b).

7 hi yn well well-o hyn alien (a) ; yn wellwell o hyn allan (b).

48 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

A grinodd pan goroned
lesu Grist a roes i gred -
Rhisgl a dial diadfail do
Da yw fawrner a dyf arno

D. Llwyd.

V.
CYWYDD BRUT.

Text:— Bleddyn MS. 3, fos. 59-61.

Variants from B. Mas. Add. MS. 14886 (written c. 1643).

Breuddwydion beirdd a oedwyd1
Hyny fa 'n2 llais hen was llwyd
Os dewin3 a gais4 deall
Aed i roi cof awdwr call
Yn ben5 bardd gwivvlan y bu
Gado hyn gwedi hynny6
Ar lleian7 aeth ir llwyn on
Yn fwriol merch fain Feirion
Os oedd gwir yr oesoedd gynt8
Fe9 ddaw adwyth a ddwedynt
Y mae ar draws y mor draw10
Rhyfeddod rwyddaf ad daw
Amseroedd y11 mesurau
Ini sydd yn neshau
Ammod yn clyfod i dir12
Rhonwen ar y rhai enwir'3
Cynta cafod a adwaen
Cam mawr i wyr Cymru wen
Mae gwr llwyd yma gerllaw
Ni beiddia i rhybuddiaw

# * # *
Arwyddion trwy Fon hyd draw
A welas es i wylaw
Rhufain adre os cefais
Mae yma son am un Sais

I Briddwydon bairdd a adwyd. 2 hynu a fyn. 3 dewi.

4 roes. Man. 6gwido hen gwedy hynny. 7yllaian.

* os gwir i gid oesi gynt. 9 a. 10mae ar y draws or mor draw.

II a. 12am nodau terfynau tir. 13Rhonwen au rann a rennir.

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 49

Yr hen wr ir dwr a dyn
Ag a diria yn aderyn
Ar Eryr wedi oreuraw

A draig a ofynir draw

* * # *

Darogan hyll dragwn hir
Ar y Tarw hwnt a yrir
Llynges gwiber ag eryr
O Fanaw a daw i dir
A gwyddel a wna gweiddi

Nesau nod y nasiwn ni

* * * *

A sathru Cymru mewn cas
A clinyster ymhob dinas
Ag yn honiad gan hyny
Yr ar Fran ir Yri fry
Ym ddisgwyl am wyl ym Mon
A wna herwyr amhirion

* * * *
Un nos i gyd aros y gwn
A gwyl Fair i gwylia n
Y deuant i dy Dewi

A Chymru yn harnu r byd
A hafog yma hefyd
Ef o fyn y mab o Fon
Euro i blant ai wyrion
Heddwch byd trwch ir byd draw
Dragwyddawl a drig iddaw.

D. Llwyd.

VI.
CYWYDD BRUT.

Text:— B. Mus. Add. MS. 14,894, fos. 83-84b [written circa 1620].
Variant .-— (a)=Bleddyn MS. 3.

Un agwedd vu wynedd vaith
Yn dilyn1 am y dalaith
A gwr dall angall yngod
Kas iawn wedyn kisio mod2 %
Yr rhwyrn a fae yn rhemynt3
wrth fon yr hen golofn gynt

1 a Dulyn (a). 2 a fu mi a wn i fod (a).

3 yn rhwym yn aur rhemynt (a).

50 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

a dynnodd yn oed unawr
i lys1 ar i wartha i lawr2
felly mae gwynedd heddiw
yn ysig friwedig friw
keisio a wnan ddroganwr3
o fon a wnaethon yn wr
' mae un gwell pe deallynt
o fon i hen gyffion4 gynt
tro dy ddart Ed wart ydwyt5
trwy y mor rhudd tramawr wyt.6
Bydd drugarog ddiogan
gymro glew wrth gymry glan
pawl a fu sawl yn i swydd7
oedd anfeidrol gynt onfydrwydd8
gwirion fodd gore un fu9
a las ynghweryl lesu
mair Fadlen a fu enyd
o gorph aniwair i gyd
Kowsant nef a thangnefedd
gan lesu a fu yn i fedd
o bu holl gymru i gyd
beiau a drwg i bywyd
hwy10 a ddon dan11 ddigoni
tarw teg yn cly raid di
Kymer wr12 y Kymru oil
yr dorfuedd don yn darfoll13
Kyrch in gwlad gariad gwiwrym'4
yn Hew ach gledde yn llym15
Tarw aurliw tiria ir Ian10
tor y nod17 amod ymwan.
dyror gwystfilod18 dewrion
ar dy raid wr dewr or on19

1 y Hys (a). 2 ir llawr (a). 3 ceisio gwan ddaroganwr (a).

4 gofiori (a). 5 tro ddart wyr Ed wart ydwyt (a).

6 Tuar mor rhudd Tarw mawr wyt (a).

7 allu swydd (a). 8 anfeidrol gynt o'nfydrwyd (a).

9 gwirion ford gore un a fu (a). 10 hwynt (a). u i (a).

12 wynt (a). 13 yn dorfeydd gwyn yn dy arfoll (a).

.H cyrch y mor goror gwiwrym (a).

15 yn Hew cleddwaed yn llym (a).

16 taria ar In tafo ir Ian (a). 17 tro or nod (a).

18 bwystfiloedd (a). 1!> ar dy fra.ich lor dewr ai on (a).

Tie of Mecf/aiT

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 51

galw r eryr gole r euraid

oth ryw ai gvviori ith raid

ffraingc ith law a ddaw yn diwyd

a gylch ar almaeri i gyd1

kwysa i nen kais ar unwaith2

orffen a diben y daith3

kai wyr haid yn blaid garw blin4

kais dynu ffordd5 kystenin

ffyrd Elen a fforddoli

i gael y groes yn does di°

ti yw r Hew ar iddewon

twr frig fal y tarw o f on

tro yn dy ol7 fal yr olwyn

y tarw kryf er tori i krwyn8

rheola gwbl or helynt

dan yr haul don ar hynt

dial gam9 ddinam ddownair

difrewio mab dwyfron mair10

Tro drachefn da yw dy ddenfydd11

ath ddonie ffawd ith hen ffydd

taria ynghwlen enyd

ti ar groes dros bum oes byd

rhai a fyn dalw y tarw teg12

tri gaiaf un tro gofeg

tarw fydd dwys ir trefydd13 da

tragywydd y tri gana.

dafudd llwyd ai Kant.

1 ar almaen a gaen i gyd (a).

'2 coelia ir hen cael ar unwaith (a).

3 wardd ar ben diben y daith (a).

4 cei wyr y blaidd carvv blin (a). 5 ffyrdd.

6 i gael croes yn d'einioes cli (a). 7 tro yn ol (a).

8 carw cryf a bair torri crwyn (a). 9 am (a).

10 ai friwie mab o fru mair (a).

11 tro drachefn tref drychaurydd (a).

12 rhai syii alw y Tarw teg (a).

13 Tarw wyt ti y trifydd da (a).

52 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

VII.

CYWYDD BRUD.

Text.—'B. Mus. Add. MS. 14,887 (circa 1500) and Bleddyn MS. 3,
fos. 56-58.1

Variants .— (a)=Bleddyn MS. 3, fos. 56-58.

(b)=text printed in Ceinion Llenyddiaeth Gymreig [ed.
Owen Jones], vol. I, part iv, p. 220.

Ynynwyd2 tan yn yn3 tir

o gynaii ni o genir4

at ewyn5 brig felyn brau

at owain o waed teau6

darogan oedd draig7 on iaith

teilwng perchenog8 talaith

y dan hug9 y doe10 fugail

ai henwi yr11 hwn yw r ail

Harri o harri herwr

tarried hyd nawed yn wr

Anodd i ddwg yn i ddol12

dreio13 adar y wenol

iacha r yn gwawr uch y gwaed14

a chelu16 tri uchelwaed

tair16 yw draig tarw a dragwn

gwlad y ha gwilied'7 ar hwn

nated ai18 ddewred ai ddart

lili yngardd un lolart

gnawd ydyw gwnaed i adar

dolphin ai werin yn war

rhon ansis19 ar un insel

rhoed gis ar baril ai20 bel

1 Add. MS. 14,887 contains lines 1 to 54 of this poem, not 1 to 34
as stated in the Hist. MSS. Com. Kept. (Welsh MSS.), vol. ii, pt. iv,
p. 1072. For lines 54 to end I have used the Bleddyn text.

2 enynwyd (a, b) 3 y (a) ; ein (b). 4 o gynnen a ogenir (b).
5 pentewyn (a) ; a'u tewyn (b). 6 Deau (a, b). 7 un (a).

8 berchenog (b). 9 o dau fwg (a) ; o dan hug (b).

10 daw (b). n Ar enw Rhys (b).

12 unodd i ddwg hyd yn i ddol (a) ; anhawdd i Ddug yn ei ddol (b).

13 dwino (a).

14 iacha'r gwr ucha un gwaed (a) ; achau gwawr, uwch y gwaed (b).
16 chwilio (a). i; taer (b). 17 gal wed (b). 18 ei (b).

19 pen ansient (a). 20 poed gis i Barli ai bel (a) ; i Baris ar (b).

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 58

bell bell i bybyr bell bobl
ystynudd hyd gonstinobyl
tarw teilwng tair talaith
torred iw wlad farchned faith
a throi babilon aflonydd1
ar hen ffeils2 ai rhoi yn y fydd
o daeth3 ir pren y wenol
gaded i ni geidwad yn ol
gair o gyngor am goryw4
gwyped pen ated pwyn yw6
ofni rwyf fi ryw fyd
aros hyn ir ys6 ennyd
y dawr kynser7 i dy r kwnsel
dyrys8 iawn pan doro i sel
pan doro r hedd pan dro r rhod9
in tir y pesgir y pysgod10
sathrant lie tariant teirawr
borfydd yn y mynydd mawr11
bwrio r teirvv obru on tiroedd12
bwriad hyn yn y brut oedd13
beichio bloedd o is heb les14
a wna buwch yn i15 buches
Arth a ofun wrth wyneb
a baedd ni na16 budd i neb
a chath a f wrw ei chathod17
y gwaed reiol yn ol nod
a thros for wrth angori
y tarw ar18 oen on tir ni
ag or daith eglur19 y don
diwedd dwy flynedd flinion

I a throi r bobl yn aflonydd (a). 2 ffeith (a). 3 od aeth (b).

4 ym oerwy (a).

5 gwyped pan ailed pa un yw (a) ; gwyped pen ated pan yw (b).

6 er ys (a, b). 7 dawr cainsiel (a) ; daw'r cansel (b).
8 diras (b). 9 pan dreio'r hedd pan dry rhod (b).
10 yn y tir y pesgir y pysgod (a) i'n tir y pesgir pysgod (b).

II Borfeuydd y mynydd mawr (b).

12 bwriant fwy obry yn tiroedd (a).

13 bwrw at hyn yr y brut oedd (a) ; a bwriad hen o'r Brut oedd (b).

14 beichio a bloeddio heb les (a, b). 15 ei (b).
16 wna (a, b). 17 a'i chwythod (b)

is a'n (b). 19 egyr (b).

54 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

ar keiliog a bair kiliaw

kyn diwedd y drydedd draw

deffry dynion or ddiffrwst

gwae r crangc a hil Ffrangc or ffrwst1

gwae geudod pysgod or Pasg

a deuben wedi deubasg2

y Blaidd a ddaw a bloedd ddig

yr haf i dorri rhyfig

ar ael hyn ar ol hyny3

llewpart a fl'wlpart a fly

ar gath ar ol gwnaeth4 a red

ar eryr ar i wared

trined y tarw o wynedd

porth Calls a Fenis a fedd5

Siwr inni seren owain6

ar hyut a duw gyda rhain7

ni wna dan y wenol8

y9 crangc fyth iw10 nyth yri ol

D. Llwyd.'1

VIII.
AWDL DEWI SANT.

Text:— British Museum Add. MSS. 14,887 [written circa 1600].
Variants :— (a)=B. Mus. Add. MSS. 14,878 [c. 1692].

(b)=Llanstephan MS. 47 [c. 1632]; portion of the text
printed in Y Cymmrodor, vol. xxiii, pp. 373-4.

(c)=Gwallter Mechain Miscellanies, vol. i, pp. 70-4.

87 Dewi kyn deni12 kawn13 ordeiniaw|mann14

Myniw ith weddiaw
A Phadrig aeth i drigaw
O Fyniw dros yr afon draw

1 gwae'r crane, gwae'r ffranc o'r fFrwst (b).

2 gwae'r dyben gwedi'r deubasg (b).

3 a wnel hyn yn ol hyny (b). 4 gwaith (b).
6 Borth Cwlis Venis a'i fedd (b).

6 Siwrneied seren Owain (b).

7arhed yn rhwydd gyda rhain (b).

8 ni ad adar y wenol (b). 9 i'r (b). '° ei.

11 (b) attributes this poem to Robin ddu.

12 d'eni (c). 13 kaid (b) : ceid (c). 14 mwyn (a, b)

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 55

Non a ddod ir deml ynddiwair feichiog1

O dwysog devvisair
Ar prelad aeth oi gadair2
Heb allu3 pregethu gair

Duw ath denies di y dydd ith aned4

Pen ith henwyd Davydd
Rhoist ir dall rhyw ystyr dydd6
1° drem heb ddim godremydd7

Rhoi rhan or dorth gan ath ginio

Oedd le heb wen wyno8
Ath gi kyn troi9 un tro
Ath f ran ayth i10 farw yrio

Bleyddyd11 a wnaeth benaeth budd
Yr ennaint yn ddirinwedd
Dwr praff i dyfr or pridd12
I gael adwyth or13 gwledydd
87b [bejndigaist hyd pen dygiodd
or serthyd yr byd yw'r badd14

1 Non a ddod'r deml yn ddiwair feichiog (a) ; Ban ddaeth Non ir
deml bun ddiwair feichiog (c).

2 Ar prelad aeth o'r gadair (a) ; Aeth y prelad o'i gadair (c); Of. et
praedicator Hyberniae propter infantem in utero crescentem obmu-
tescet (Historia Reyum Britanniae, lib. VII, c. iii, p. 93, ed. San
Marte, Halle, 1854). A phregethwr Iwerdon aeyd mut achaws y mab
yntyfu ygkallon y vam. [Ystorya Brenhined y Brytanyeit in Red Book
of Herffest, vol. ii, p. 145, ed. Rhys and Evans. Oxford, 1890.]

3 fedru (c).

4 A duw a'th ddoniad y dydd yth aned ('a) ; Duw ath donies ar y
dydd ith aned (c).

5 rhoist ir dall heb ddim rhwystr dydd (a) ; Rhoist oi dall (c).
« ei (c).

7 yn ddi odrymmydd (a) ; heb ddim godrumydd (c).

8 Rhoi rhan o'th dorth gan ath ginio i lu

heb le i wen wyno (a) ;
Rhan or dorth gann ar ginio a lewaist
Oedd le heb wen wyno (c).

9 troddi (a) ; torri (c). 10 yn (a). " Bleiddud (a).
12 y dwfr praff difar or pridd (a). l3 ir (a).

14 sierthydd ir byd y badd (a).

56 WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENKY TUDOR.

Er dy f agu yn gu yn oed gwr | o grefydd1

Kyn gryfed a milwr2
Ansodd ni3 mynnodd meiriwr
Yn dy raid4 ond bara a dwr

Yr oedd ith bregeth5 ry w ddydd | ith ganmol

Wythugeinmil dafydd
Daeth hyddod o gysgod gwydd
Draw i wrando yn yr imdydd6

Kof awdyr a wnaeth kyfodi7 1 yn wir

Dan8 oror Kwm Brifi9
Yn dir tew dan dy draed ti
Y ddaiar yn llan ddewi

[De]wi lie r wyd aed oil yr iaith
[Dyjfod a10 mae ryw adfyd maith
[Te]rm anghj'fiaith trwm anghofion11

. . . . i gymru rhag drwg amraintla
[Dr]aw dy foli drud o feiliaint13
Ag wylo naint14 a galw ar Non

Llawer gweddi rhag llwyr godded
[A] blin oyddunt heb le nodded15
Dygu in16 rhodded dwg ni yn rhyddion

Y sawl y17 sydd a fu a fydd18
Fob doeth19 pob dydd in rhoi ni n rhydd
88 At pab y ffydd aed pawb ai ffon

1 Er dy fagu 'n gu 'n oed gwr, o grefydd (a).

2 yn gryfach na milwr (a) ; gan gryfed a milwr (c). 3 nis (a, c).
4 ni bu raid (a, c). 5 Kai ddaeth i'th bregeth (a).

6 draw i wrandaw 'n yr undydd (a) : I wrando yn yr undydd (c).

7 Cof ydiw a wnaeth cyfodi (a) ; Cof ydyw yn ol cyfodi (c).
8ar(a). 9 Brefi (a, c). 10i(b);y(c).

11 anghyfion (a, b) ; y w nghofion (c).

12 Dyry i Gymmru rag drwg amraint (a, b) ; dir i Gymbru rhag drwg
am braint (c).

13 afaelaint (a, b) ; foliant (c). 14 a gwilio'r naint (a, b).

15 a blin oi ddwyn heb lonydded (a, b) ; a blin oedden heb le
nodded (c).

16 duw gwyn (a, b). 17 a (b). l8 a fu ag a fydd (a, b).
19 pawb doed (a, b).

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 57

Dyma r amser y daw r1 ymswrn2
Dewi yn ddig3 a dur yn i ddwrn
Enwi swrn yn yr oes hon4

Ar bump a deg i maer gwir5
Y wadd a ladd ag a leddir
Ag fo6 welir naw7 ofalon.

Gwyr aflonydd gwae r fel ynys
Gwedi yr ymwrdd8 gvvaed yr emys
A braw dyrus rhvvng brodorion

A chwys ar grys a chis9 ar groen
A dwfr ymhais a deifr ymhoen
A hoyn ar goroen10 ar y gwirion

A bwrw y dreth a bair y drin
I drwsio gwyr ar draws gwerin
O11 wlad y gwin flodau gwinion

Gwelwch roi maes ar y gweilch or mor
A lliwio temys oerJIlyd tymor12
A bwrw blaynor y bobl union13

Yn y dwyrain ganaid14 araul
A chleddau hir machlud haul
Y mwya i draul y myd ar on15

Dau i wiliaw oni dialwyr16
O dau efyn yn gofyn gwyr
drogaiiwyr dur gwinnion17

: _ — ________

1 i daro 'r (a). 2 ymsonwrn (c).

3 a dewr yn ddig (a, b) ; duw ner yn ddig (c).

4 ar enwi swrn o'r ynys honn (a).

5 Ar bum a deg ei manegir (a) ; mae yn agos o mynegir (c).

6 ef a (c). 7 mawr (a).

8 gwedi ymmwrdd (a). 9 chwys (a).

10 y rai gorwen (a) ; a hoen a gorhoen (c). n i (c).

12 Gwelwch roi maes gwiliwch y mor
A lliwio Terns oi Hid tymmor (a).

13 a bwrw blaenor barabl union (c).

14 gaiieid (c). 15 mwya ei draul o ddyma hyd Ron (a,)

16 Dau a welwn a'n dialwyr (a).

17 daroganwyr a dur gwy union (a).

F

oo WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR.

Gwyr a barant gau r aberoedd
88b Er bateilio ir bateloedd

O du r moroedd i dir Meirion1

Profi llyfnu prif holl hafnau2
Wrth eu dial arth y ddau3
O ddwy4 gleddau i5 gelyddon

Llygru dinas lloygr i danadd6
A gyrru r byd ag oeri r badd
A chloir7 wadd uchel roddion8

Llawer baner ir llawr beunydd9
Llawer gawr fawr yn Lloygr10 a fydd
Lie rnae bran gwydd llyma brig on

Dewi yr ydym er11 dy radau
Bywyd arwain12 ar baderau
Y gwenerau ag yn wirion

[Ath] weddiaw dithe ddewi13
[Rhydjdyd unwaith rhyw dad enil4
[Ith] rhieni athro union'5

A leni disgwyl16 Wynedd
[Y] kawn weled kan nialedd
Yn gelanedd on17 gelynion

1 a dyrr muroedd ar dir meirion (a). 2 haforau (c).

3 byrth y dehau (c). 4 ddau (a) ; dean (c).

6 hyd (c).

6 llygru dinas lloegr llydanadd (a) ; A llygr ddinas Lloegr y
danadd (c). 7 chilio r (c).

8 (c) inserts : —

Llawer urddol llwyr ei ddolur
Llawer dug hael llwyn y daw cur
Llawer gwayw dur a llurig don

9 baenydd (b). 10 lloegria vydd (b).

11 Dewirydym ar (a, b). '2 eurer (a) ; aiirer (b).

13 ath weddiaw dithau Ddewi (a, b) ; Ith weddiaw weithiau
Ddewi (c).

14 rwydd-dad a wnaeth rydd-did i ni (a^ ; rhyddid a wnaeth rhywdd-
dad i ni (b); rhyddid unwaith rho dad ini (c).

15 O drueni ynad yr union (c). 16 Ag y leni y goel (a, b).
17yn(b,); ein(c).

WELSH NATIONALISM AND HENRY TUDOR. 59

Gelynion a drig i leni|ymhob maes1

[Kyn] diwedd mis medi
[Pob tir] maith pawb on iaith ni
[Pob tuejdd pawb at ddewi

dafydd nanmor ai kant.2

1 yn y maes (c).

2 Dafydd llvvyd ap llewelyn ap gryfFydd ai kant (a, b, c).

[Note: Gwallter Mechain entitles this ode " Awdl Dewi Sant :
sef gwcddi arnau er gwared Cymru yn ei hadfyd ac i frudiaw givaith
Fosworth ".]

CORRIGENDA.

Page 8, line 11, for besides read beside.
Page 8, fn. 3, f or pomeretur read poneretur.
Page 9, line 2, for unshakened read unshaken.
Page 10, line 5. for so convey read to convey.
Page 12, fn. 5, for tome read torn.

„ „ for Balaam ct Heliu read Balaam et Heliu.
Page 15, line 27, for Cumean read Cumcean.

75602*

DA 722.1 .Al J6 1918 IMS
Jones, William Garmon.

welsh nationalism and Henry
Tudor

OF MEDIAEVAL 3TUDIE6

59 QUEEN'S PARK